bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Participants’ perceptions of the factors that influence Diabetes Self‐Management Following a Structured Education (DAFNE) programme
Authors: Murphy Kathy , Casey Dympna , Dinneen Sean , Lawton Julia , Brown Florence 
Published: April 2011

Aim.  The aim of this study was to understand the experience of participants in the Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating programme and to identify factors that influence participants’ implementation of the self‐management guidelines.Background.  The literature revealed that structured education programmes, such as Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating programme, have many positive outcomes for people with Type 1 diabetes including: a decrease in HbA1c levels, reductions in hypoglycaemic events, reduction in hospital admissions and increased and sustained quality of life. Few researchers, however, have gathered participants’ perspectives on the impact of participation in a Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating programme on self‐management capacity.Design.  A grounded theory design focused on description guided by Corbin and Strauss was used. Data collection and analysis were concurrent using the constant comparative technique.Methods.  Over 24 months, 2006–2008, interviews were undertaken with 40 participants who had completed a Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating programme in one of five study sites across Ireland. Purposive sampling was used, initially, with theoretical relational sampling towards the end of the interviews as concepts emerged. The interviews lasted from 30–60 minutes and were transcribed verbatim.Results.  Five factors that influenced participants’ self‐management of their diabetes following dose adjustment for normal eating were identified. These were knowledge, support, motivation, relationship shift and empowerment, and these were all related to the core category, ‘Being in Control’.Conclusion.  Understanding the factors that influence self‐management in Ireland is important as it broadens prior knowledge and confirms the factors that are important to facilitate self‐management.Relevance to clinical practice.  Understanding the factors that influence the implementation of dose adjustment for normal eating principles can help health professionals give more focused and empowering care to persons with diabetes. Using the persons’ experience and expertise is essential as it can help them develop their internal resources.
Evaluation of a cardiovascular health promotion programme offered to low‐income women in Korea
Authors: Ok Ham Kyung , Jeong Kim Bong 
Published: April 2011

Aims.  The study aimed to evaluate a cardiovascular health promotion programme, using an empowerment model, provided to low‐income midlife women in South Korea.Background.  Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among Korean women, constituting 29% of all deaths among women in South Korea.Design.  A pre‐ and post‐test experimental study design was used. The programme, which included two hours of lecture‐based health education and one hour of small group discussion, was provided each week for six weeks. Telephone counselling was also provided. The topic of education included hypertension and cardiovascular disease, smoking and alcohol consumption, diet, exercise, stress management and compliance with medication instructions.Methods.  Forty midlife women who had at least two cardiovascular disease risk factors participated in the study. Biological (blood pressure, blood glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol) and health behaviour risk factors (smoking, exercise, alcohol consumption and diet) and psychosocial variables (knowledge, self‐efficacy, depression and health‐related quality of life) were measured for programme evaluation.Results.  Most of the risk factors were reduced, including blood pressure, total cholesterol, blood glucose and total cholesterol/high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (p < 0·05), while knowledge, self‐efficacy and health‐related quality of life were improved (p < 0·05). Changes related to smoking and exercise behaviour were not significant (p > 0·05).Conclusions.  The programme was effective in decreasing biological risks and improving health‐related quality of life, whereas it was ineffective in modifying unhealthy behaviour.Relevance to clinical practice.  Low‐income women are a disenfranchised group and have relatively higher rates of health problems and unhealthy lifestyles. Provision of empowerment programmes targeting these women may increase their sense of control and reduce powerlessness.
An evaluation of hospital hand hygiene practice and glove use in Hong Kong
Authors: Chau Janita P‐C , Thompson David R , Twinn Sheila , Lee Diana TF , Pang Sharon WM 
Published: April 2011

Aim.  To identify omissions in hand hygiene practice and glove use among hospital workers in Hong Kong.Background.  Hospital‐acquired infection is the commonest complication affecting hospitalised patients. Even though research evidence suggests that hand hygiene and proper glove use are the most important ways to prevent the spread of disease and infection, compliance with both are reported to be unacceptably low.Design.  An observational study of hospital workers in one acute and two convalescence and rehabilitation hospitals in Hong Kong was conducted. The participating clinical areas included the medical and surgical wards, accident and emergency department and intensive care unit.Methods.  Hand hygiene practice and glove use amongst 206 hospital health and support workers, stratified according to years of working experience, were observed.Results.  The number of observed episodes for hand hygiene was 1037 and for glove use 304. Compliance with hand hygiene was 74·7% and with glove use 72·4%. In approximately two‐third of episodes, participants washed their hands after each patient contact; though, 78·5% failed to rub their hands together vigorously for at least 15 seconds. The major break in compliance with glove use was failure to change gloves between procedures on the same patient. In 28·6% of observed glove use episodes, participants did not wear gloves during procedures that exposed them to blood, body fluids, excretion, non‐intact skin or mucous membranes. Significant differences in performance scores on antiseptic hand rub were found between the two types of hospital and on glove use between the three groups of work experience: ≤5, 6–10, >10 years.Relevance to clinical practice.  Education and reinforcement of proper hand hygiene practice and glove use among hospital health and support workers is needed.
Implementation of clinical guidelines for adults with asthma and diabetes: a three‐year follow‐up evaluation of nursing care
Authors: Higuchi Kathryn Smith , Davies Barbara L , Edwards Nancy , Ploeg Jenny , Virani Tazim 
Published: April 2011

Aims and objectives.  To report on a three‐year follow‐up evaluation in Canada of nursing care indicators following the implementation of the Adult Asthma Care Best Practice Guideline and the Reducing Foot Complications for People with Diabetes Best Practice Guideline and to describe the contextual changes in the clinical settings.Background.  The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario in Canada has developed and published more than 42 guidelines related to clinical nursing practice and healthy work environments. To date, evaluation has involved one‐year studies of the impact of guideline implementation on the delivery of care in hospital and community settings, but little is known about whether changes in practice that were made during the initial implementation period have been sustained.Design.  Longitudinal follow‐up study.Methods.  Site observations and interviews were conducted with key informants at two hospitals. Indicators of nursing care changes identified six months post‐implementation were compared with indicators found during a retrospective chart audit at the same sites three years later. Fisher exact tests were used to compare outcomes for the two time periods.Results.  Three out of 12 indicators related to asthma care remained consistently high (≥84% of audited charts) and four indicators declined significantly (p < 0·01). There were significant (p ≤ 0·05) improvements in nine out of 12 indicators related to diabetes foot care. Important contextual changes were made to better address the guideline recommendations for foot care in the out‐patient program and the electronic documentation system.Conclusions.  Sustainability of guideline implementation recommendations was enhanced with the use of an electronic documentation system.Relevance to clinical practice.  Long‐term follow‐up of both clinical indicators and contextual factors are important to monitor to promote sustained implementation of guidelines.
No gender differences in fatigue and functional limitations due to fatigue among patients with COPD
Authors: Theander Kersti , Unosson Mitra 
Published: April 2011

Aims and objectives.  To examine gender differences in experiences of fatigue and functional limitations due to fatigue in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a comparison group.Background.  Fatigue is a major problem for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The prevalence rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in females is increasing and to our knowledge there are few studies reporting gender differences in one of their worst symptoms, fatigue and functional limitations due to fatigue.Design.  This study has a descriptive cross‐sectional design.Methods.  Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 345) and a comparison group of the same gender and age from the same region as the patients (n = 245) answered mailed questions about the frequency, duration and severity of fatigue and the fatigue impact scale.Results.  High frequency (≥20 days/month), long duration (≥6 hours/day) and great severity (one of my worst symptoms) of fatigue were experienced by 51%, 54% and 44% of the male patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respectively and 60%, 55% and 51% of the female patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, respectively. The figures for the males from the comparison group were 14%, 24% and 17% and for the females 30%, 42% and 32%, respectively. There were no gender differences regarding fatigue (frequency, duration and severity) or functional limitations due to fatigue in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, while the differences between males and females from the comparison group were statistically significant for frequency and severity of fatigue as well as functional limitation due to fatigue.Conclusion.  In the comparison group, there were gender differences regarding fatigue, as well as functional limitations due to fatigue. This was not observed in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease group.Relevance to clinical practice.  The results of this study suggest that nurses should not take for granted that female patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease experience more fatigue than men.
Isolation and characterisation of the first microsatellite markers for Cyperus rotundus
Authors: ARIAS R S , MOLIN W T , RAY J D , PEEL M D , SCHEFFLER B E 
Published: April 2011

Arias RS, Molin WT, Ray JD, Peel MD & Scheffler BE (2011). Isolation and characterisation of the first microsatellite markers for Cyperus rotundus. Weed Research51, 451–460.SummaryThis is the first report of microsatellite markers for Cyperus rotundus. A total of 191 sequence‐specific microsatellite markers were isolated and used to screen 12 accessions of C. rotundus and one accession of Cyperus esculentus collected from 10 different countries. Polymorphisms were observed in 49% of the markers tested, 22% of the markers were monomorphic and 29% had weak or no amplification. The best 57 markers are reported, and cluster analysis was used to analyse their resolving power. BLASTx screening of the contig sequences was also performed. Multiallelic loci over all samples ranged from 24% to 60%. The maximum number of alleles detected by the markers suggests a polyploidy nature of all C. rotundus accessions tested, except for the sample N25‐Brazil. Chromosome number was determined for N12‐Taiwan and used as an internal flow cytometry standard to estimate the amount of DNA within haploid nuclei of the remaining material. Chromosome numbers estimated for C. rotundus were 16 and 24. The markers identified in this study can be used for the identification of biotypes and detection of potential crosses of C. rotundus, to implement management practices for the effective control of this weed.
Effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy on body composition in offspring
Authors: Ino Toshihiro , Shibuya Tomoyuki , Saito Kota , Ohtani Tetsuya 
Published: April 2011

AbstractBackground:  The aim of the present cross‐sectional study was to use objective methods to assess the association between maternal smoking and body composition in offspring.Methods:  A total of 2508 grade 4 school children were enrolled; all underwent lifestyle disease and passive smoking screening. Children were classified into four groups according to their urinary cotinine level and maternal smoking status during or before pregnancy. Items measured on lifestyle disease screening were compared among the four groups.Results:  Only degree of obesity (DO) and body mass index (BMI) were significantly associated with maternal smoking during pregnancy. The prevalence of both DO >20% and DO >30%, and BMI >22% and BMI >25% was highest in children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy. These children had a tendency toward shorter height and increased weight although it was not statistically significant. There were no significant differences between maternal smoking status and lipid profile among groups. Confounders such as food, exercise and sleep were able to be eliminatedConclusion:  Maternal smoking during pregnancy may be an independent risk factor of changing body composition in offspring, that is, shorter height and increased weight.
Fluoroscopic‐assisted endobronchial intubation for single‐lung ventilation in infants
Authors: Cohen David E. , McCloskey John J. , Motas Dominika , Archer John , Flake Alan W. 
Published: April 2011

SummaryObjective:  Review our institutional experience with an alternative to fiberoptic‐guided endobronchial intubation.Aim:  The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to present our experience with the use of fluoroscopy to facilitate endobronchial lung isolation in infants undergoing thoracoscopic procedures.Background:  Anesthesiologists are more frequently being asked to anesthetize infants and small children for thoracoscopic surgery. Typically, endobronchial intubation or bronchial blockers are utilized to achieve lung isolation during these procedures. However, sometimes small and complicated anatomy can make this challenging.Methods:  Respective chart review over a 13‐month period of infants undergoing thoracoscopic excision of congenital lung lesions at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Rate of success in achieving lung isolation along with time of fluoroscopy exposure were recorded.Results:  Twenty infants had thoracoscopic lung surgery attempted during the period of the review. Lung isolation was successfully achieved in all of the patients. The average exposure to fluoroscopy was 83.7 s (range 20–320 s).Conclusions:  Fluoroscopic aided lung isolation is a reliable and effective alternative method to the use of fiberoptic bronchoscope for endobronchial intubation in infants.
Do Maori and Pacific Islander men present with more advanced prostate cancer than European New Zealand men? An analysis of 486 men undergoing biopsy in Auckland
Authors: Pokorny Morgan R. , Scott David J. 
Published: April 2011

Study Type – Diagnosis (prevalence study)Level of Evidence 2bOBJECTIVE• To address the question of whether Maori and Pacific Islander men in Auckland present with more advanced prostate cancer at diagnosis than New Zealand European or European men.PATIENTS AND METHODS• A retrospective database audit was undertaken of all men presenting for a first prostate biopsy under the Auckland Hospital Urology Service in 2005 and 2006.• Ethnicity was coded from self‐identification codes on hospital databases.• Population numbers were obtained from the 2006 Census figures from Statistics New Zealand.• Primary outcome measures used as surrogates for advanced disease were PSA level at biopsy, Gleason Score and palpable abnormality on digital rectal examination and rates of metastatic disease as determined by nuclear medicine bone scan.RESULTS• There was no appreciable difference when Maori and Pacific Islander men were compared with European men for median PSA level (13.30 vs 12.55 ng/mL, P = 0.264); median Gleason score (7 and 7), mean Gleason score (7.0 vs 6.9, P = 0.196) or the proportion of Gleason Score 7 or 8–10 (P = 0.431)• There was no difference between the rates of metastatic disease at presentation (11.5% vs 7.8%, P = 0.376).• There appeared to be a significant difference in the proportion of Maori and Pacific Islanders presenting with palpable disease (67.2%) compared with European men (53.3%, P = 0.042).• The crude population biopsy rate per 100 000 was similar for Maori and Pacific Islander and European men (560 vs 547).CONCLUSIONS• Maori and Pacific Islander men present with similar prostate cancer characteristics to European men at diagnosis but there appears to be a real discrepancy in the rates of palpable disease.
Lessons learned: end‐user assessment of a skills laboratory based training programme for urology trainees
Authors: Grills Richard , Lawrentschuk Nathan , Corcoran Niall M. 
Published: April 2011

OBJECTIVES• To evaluate the benefit of a skills laboratory based training programme to urology resident training by end‐user assessment.SUBJECTS AND METHODS• All participants in a urological skills workshop programme conducted at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Melbourne, Australia, between 2004 and 2009 were included.• This was a retrospective review using a structured questionnaire.• Topics regarding course organization, content, delivery and relevance to clinical practice were examined.• Free‐text entry responses allowed participants to elaborate on specific points as appropriate.RESULTS• During the study period, 35 individual workshops were conducted.• In all, 41 of 43 eligible participants completed the survey for a response rate of 95%.• Overall, 26 (63%) found the experience valuable, interesting and useful.• Of the remainder (37%), four (10%) found it interesting but not useful to training, five (12%) found it useful and a good idea but not well conducted, and two (5%) found it neither interesting nor useful for training.• Workshop success was intimately related to the quality of the simulator or model used: highly rated workshops consistently used models that were ‘realistic’ and ‘life‐like’, while poorly rated workshops were associated with models considered ‘impossible’ and ‘not tested’.CONCLUSIONS• The use of skills laboratory based workshops can enhance the surgical training of urology residents, at least as assessed by the end‐users themselves.• However, closer attention to the selection and use of properly tested and validated models may maximize the educational opportunity.• Translational research prospectively examining the impact of workshops on live patient surgery and outcomes is still required.
The presence–absence matrix reloaded: the use and interpretation of range–diversity plots
Authors: Arita Héctor T. , Christen Andrés , Rodríguez Pilar , Soberón Jorge 
Published: April 2011

ABSTRACTAim  A great deal of information on distribution and diversity can be extracted from presence–absence matrices (PAMs), the basic analytical tool of many biogeographic studies. This paper presents numerical procedures that allow the analysis of such information by taking advantage of mathematical relationships within PAMs. In particular, we show how range–diversity (RD) plots summarize much of the information contained in the matrices by the simultaneous depiction of data on distribution and diversity.Innovation  We use matrix algebra to extract and process data from PAMs. Information on the distribution of species and on species richness of sites is computed using the traditional R (by rows) and Q (by columns) procedures, as well as the new Rq (by rows, considering the structure of columns) and Qr (by columns, considering the structure by rows) methods. Matrix notation is particularly suitable for summarizing complex calculations using PAMs, and the associated algebra allows the implementation of efficient computational programs. We show how information on distribution and species richness can be depicted simultaneously in RD plots, allowing a direct examination of the relationship between those two aspects of diversity. We explore the properties of RD plots with a simple example, and use null models to show that while parameters of central tendency are not affected by randomization, the dispersion of points in RD plots does change, showing the significance of patterns of co‐occurrence of species and of similarity among sites.Main conclusion  Species richness and range size are both valid measures of diversity that can be analysed simultaneously with RD plots. A full analysis of a system requires measures of central tendency and dispersion for both distribution and species richness.
Substitutive competition: Virtual pets as competitive buffers to alleviate possible negative influence on pupils
Authors: Chen Zhi‐Hong , Chou Chih‐Yueh , Biswas Gautam , Chan Tak‐Wai 
Published: April 2011

AbstractAlthough competition is regarded as a powerful motivator in game‐based learning, it might have a negative influence, such as damage to confidence, on students who lose the competition. In this paper, we propose an indirect approach, substitutive competition, to alleviate such negative influences. The approach is used to develop a My‐Pet v3 system, in which pupils master subject materials to make their pets stronger, and compete against each other. Specifically, pupils learn Chinese idioms in a pet‐training game scenario, and their mastery of the material is related to the pets' strength to win the competition. The result of the competition is influenced by whether pupils spend enough effort on the learning tasks. This intention is expected to alleviate the negative influence that results from direct competition. A within‐subject experiment was conducted to examine the influence of substitutive competition. The results indicated that substitutive competition seems a promising scheme to maximise the power of competition. However, there were no apparent evidences in this study to demonstrate its effect to alleviate pupils' sense of failure, as compared with other two direct competition conditions.