bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Professionalism in nursing master's graduates
Authors: Hungler Bernadette P. , Joyce Amy , Krawczyk Rosemary , Polit Denise 
Published: December 2006

The past 10 years have seen a shift in the master's level preparation of nurses. The majority of nurses currently seeking advanced preparation choose clinical specialization as the functional area rather than teaching. Such a shift in focus reflects the ever increasing specialization of services associated with an ever‐growing complex society. Although the shift in focus of preparation and the concomitant change in curriculum design have been documented, few scientific investigations have been conducted on the graduates from master's programmes.Of those studies that have been conducted, the majority have focused on the differential personal characteristics of graduate nursing students in different types of programmes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between a nurse's area of functional preparation in a master's degree programme and the individual's level of professionalism. The independent variable of the study was functional area of preparation in a master's programme. The dependent variables became enrolment in a formal programme of study, subscription to professional journals, attendance at non‐formal educational programmes, number of authored publications, membership in professional organizations and employment in prepared area, as these seemed to reflect the criteria of professionalism explicated by Flexner (1915).The data for the study were gleaned from questionnaires sent to the 637 individuals who had graduated from the programme. Of the 395 questionnaires that were returned, only 272 were usable. This number represented 43% of the graduate population.The chi‐square test was used to analyse the data. Each of the chi‐square values for association between professionalism and graduate specialty was found to be significant. Postgraduates prepared as teachers met Flexner's criteria more often than did postgraduates prepared as clinical specialists.
Who cares? Nursing and sociology: the development of a symbiotic relationship*
Authors: Cox Caroline A. 
Published: December 2006

The paper has three aims: to illustrate ways in which sociology may help nurses to achieve their primary objective: good patient care; to show how nursing can contribute to sociology; and to indicate some conditions for a healthy relationship between the two activities.After a brief discussion of the nature of sociology, intended for non‐sociologists, four examples of ways in which sociology may be relevant to nursing are discussed: (i) Imphcations for nursing of changing patterns of disease, dependency and death; (ii) Social and cultural variations in perceptions of, and responses to, pain and disease; (iii) Organizational analyses, with particular reference to the importance of nurse‐patient communication; (iv) Sociological studies of inter‐personal relationships, illustrated by a study of student nurse training.Nursing is described as the major caring profession; as such it has inherent interest for sociologists interested in health care. However, its sociological interest is enhanced by the fact that it is permeated by paradoxes. Reference is also made to current debate on the most appropriate model for health care: the traditional medical model places relatively greater emphasis on cure than does nursing, with its relatively greater involvement with care. It is suggested that current patterns of disease and dependency increase the importance of the care model, and that nursing could play a crucial role in such a shift of emphasis.Having shown that sociology can make positive contributions to nursing, attention is drawn to certain dangers. Nursing should thus make sure that the sociology which it welcomes into its domain is academically sound, and not ideology in disguise. It is also suggested that nursing education should encourage more critical thinking, to enliven nurses' appreciation of what sociology has to offer, and to improve their ability to evaluate the quality of health care.
Is the nursing profession really research‐based?*
Authors: Smith James P. 
Published: December 2006

Modern nursing has its origins in the pioneering research of Florence Nightingale but a research approach to nursing problems was never transmitted as part of the traditions of the Nightingale pattern of nurse training.Although nurses in North America established nursing education programmes in centres of higher education as long ago as 1899, British nurses did not utilize these facilities until the 1950s. This militated against the proper preparation of British nurses for research and the innovation of nursing research activities was therefore drastically delayed in the United Kingdom.Such research as there was tended to focus on nurses rather than nursing. The Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom, together with the Department of Health and Social Security, London, sponsored a number of nursing care research projects in the late 1960s. This was followed, in the 1970s, by an upsurge of research interest and research activity among British nurses. But it is still very difficult to demonstrate any direct benefits from nursing research interest or activity on patient care. There are also problems associated with the lack of experimental and replicated studies, the dearth of research‐minded nurses and the apparent lack of interest in implementing nursing research findings. This places a great responsibility on the teachers of nurses.Hope is on the horizon. This is fostered by recent syllabuses and guides produced by British statutory bodies responsible for basic and postbasic nursing research.In conclusion, the author argues that nursing research activity should not be permitted to become an end in itself. The search for a research base for nursing should be motivated primarily by a desire to achieve better nursing practice.
Nurses' perceptions of the British hospital nursing officer
Authors: Hey Bob , Shaw Monica 
Published: December 2006

SUMMARYA major objective of the Report of die committee on senior nursing staff structure (Salmon Report) was to clarify the role of middle‐management nurses. This paper analyses the views of 170 nurses in two general, one psychiatric, and one mental subnormality hospital, about nursing officers. A nursing officer was mentioned as the person with most say or influence over them by more nurses of all grades in the two non‐general than in the two general hospitals, a difference explained in terms of the greater role of the medical model, and hence the sister consultant relationship in the latter. There were, however, also marked differences between the responses received from staff in the two general and between the two non‐general hospitals in the perceived influence of the nursing officer which could not be explained in this way. Analysis of repertory grids suggested more problems in relations with senior nurses overall in the general hospitals. Nurses' descriptions of relationships with superiors suggested that nursing officer superiors were seen more as ‘socio‐emotional’ whilst sisters and charge nurses were seen as ‘instrumental’ leaders. Asked to choose a person who had annoyed them at work, nurses chose a nursing officer more frequently than other grades of nurse, particularly in the non‐general hospitals. Reasons for annoyance with a nursing officer included unwarranted interference, destructive criticism, and lack of specialized knowledge.
Hospital ward routine‐friend or foe?*
Authors: Fretwell Joan E. 
Published: December 2006

SUMMARYThe author examines the traditional model of nursing, which is dominated by hierarchy and routine, and concludes that it is an industrial rather than a professional model. It is a model which has developed to cope with the unique problems faced by nurses, but it appears to satisfy the needs of doctors rather than the individual needs of either patients or learners. Drawing on the results of a two‐stage research study of the ward learning environment conducted in wards of two general hospitals, the author suggests that the traditional model of nursing contributes to an automatic job performance and inhibits a spirit of enquiry, particularly during routine work. Changes to a professional model, which restore the patient to the centre of the nursing process, are advocated as a means of linking nursing theory with practice and detecting individual needs which fall outside the routine.In this paper selected findings from a two‐stage research study of the ward learning environment (Fretwell 1978) are discussed. Field work was carried out in two general hospitals and a unit in a third hospital, during 1975 and 1976. Methods and techniques were piloted with staff and learners in a large general hospital.The first stage was a ranking study in which 87 learners completed 327 rating questionnaires in respect of 14 training wards in which they had previously worked. In the second stage, observations were carried out in three pairs of high and low ranked wards from three specialities. Learners were interviewed about 571 observed activities in order to identify teaching and learning occurring under changing circumstances. By combining observations with interviews it was possible to identify covert as well as overt teaching and to ascertain how learners perceived a variety of ward activities.The findings can only be generalized to the wards that were studied but it may be that there is a ‘ring of truth’ in the descriptions that makes them recognizable in other places. Drawing on a search of the literature on nurse education, nursing over many decades, and on medical sociology, it is proposed to consider one or two themes in a wider context.
Pain assessment: development of a tool for the nurse and the patient
Authors: BourbonnaiS Frances 
Published: December 2006

The assessment of pain is a difficult and yet vital component of nursing care. Discrepancies in the nursing management of pain can result from inadequate data collection and personal biases about the pain experienced by the patient. For example, how often is the patient with chronic pain consulted about personal remedies used at home to facilitate pain relief? Do nurses have preconceived ideas of how much pain should exist with each disease entity? A tool was developed which incorporated many of the variables affecting the pain response in order to sensitize nurses to the need for careful pain assessment. The information in this tool was conveyed to both graduate and student nurses resulting in improved charting of the patient's pain and improvement in the ability to assess the patient in pain.Description of pain by the patient is often a frustrating experience and yet necessary in helping to determine the cause of the pain and the appropriate interventions. Patients often have difficulty describing their pain to health professionals. A ruler which includes the most frequently utilized terms to describe pain was developed, revised and tested on various patients. The patients interviewed found the tool easy to use and all felt they could communicate their sensation of pain to the nurse.
Huntington's disease: the nursing process
Authors: Drapo Peggy J. 
Published: December 2006

Huntington's disease is caused by a genetic condition which has thus far escaped being understood in spite of years of research. The importance of the disease to those in medical and educational professions is great because of its devastating effects on the family unit. It is a disease for which there is no cure and no treatment other than supportive care as the disease progresses. Because the disease does not manifest itself until the fourth or fifth decade of life, the person who develops it has probably already married and had children. Since the condition is passed from parent to child in an autosomal dominant way, fully 50% of the children stand at risk of having the disease. Neurological disorders and psychological problems are the first sign the family has and these are often mistaken for other conditions, such as alcoholism. As the disease progresses, the family spends thousands of dollars on needed care and often insurance companies or other health plans will not cover these needs.Nurses need to be aware of the long‐term plight faced by a family with this condition whose only hope, at the present time, is prevention through education during the early years about the genetic component and counselling in the child‐bearing years.Early diagnosis could save countless problems for families as far as future planning of the patient at risk, for family planning and for the provision of resources for the possibility of costly medical expenses. Some families have been the brunt of needless scorn because a family member was suspected of drug or alcohol abuse by an uninformed public. Misdiagnosis, because of a group of symptoms similar to those in other conditions such as schizophrenia, has led to years of useless treatment for the wrong disorder.Since genetic disease is such a big factor in health care today, it would seem that human genetics should be added, in a basic way, to the science curriculum of school children. It should become a part, in a more advanced way, of every nursing and medical programme. Public education for those who have not been exposed to this disease and others like it can best be done through the media of print.
Regional specialization of rat quadriceps myosin heavy chain isoforms occurring in distal to proximal parts of middle and deep regions is not mirrored by citrate synthase activity
Authors: Kohn Tertius Abraham , Myburgh Kathryn Helen 
Published: December 2006

AbstractMyosin heavy chain (MHC) isoform content and citrate synthase (CS) activities were measured in the Quadriceps femoris (QF) muscle of 18 female rats. The muscle group was divided into superficial, middle and deep, distal, central and proximal parts. MHC IIb and IIx were more abundant in superficial regions (P < 0.05) with low CS activities compared with deeper parts. The deeper parts expressed all four isoforms (MHC IIb, MHC IIx, MHC IIa and MHC I), with a concomitantly higher CS activity. MHC I, MHC IIa and MHC IIb isoform content varied significantly along the length of the deep regions. Only MHC IIb and CS activity in the proximal middle part correlated (negatively) with each other. This study showed that the QF has regional specialization and that standardization of sampling site is important. Furthermore, CS activity and MHC isoforms are only loosely associated, or not at all.
Modulation of the kinetics of evoked quantal release at mouse neuromuscular junctions by calcium and strontium
Authors: Bukharaeva Ellya A. , Samigullin Dmitry , Nikolsky Eugeny E. , Magazanik Lev G. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractThe effects of calcium and strontium on the quantal content of nerve‐evoked endplate currents and on the kinetic parameters of quantal release (minimal synaptic delay, value of main mode of synaptic delay histogram, and variability of synaptic delay) were studied at the mouse neuromuscular synapse. At low calcium ion concentrations (0.2–0.6 mmol/L), evoked signals with long synaptic delays (several times longer than the value of main mode) were observed. Their number decreased substantially when [Ca2+]o was increased (i.e. the release of transmitter became more synchronous). By contrast, the early phase of secretion, characterized by minimal synaptic delay and accounting for the main peak of the synaptic delay histogram, did not change significantly with increasing [Ca2+]o. Hence, extracellular calcium affected mainly the late, ‘asynchronous’, portion of phasic release. The average quantal content grew exponentially from 0.09 ± 0.01 to 1.04 ± 0.07 with the increase in [Ca2+]o without reaching saturation. Similar results were obtained when calcium was replaced by strontium, but the asynchronous portion of phasic release was more pronounced and higher strontium concentrations (to 1.2–1.4 mmol/L) were required to abolish responses with long delays. Treatment of preparations with 1,2‐bis(2‐aminophenoxy)ethane‐N,N,N′,N′‐tetraacetic acid tetrakis acetoxymethyl ester (BAPTA‐AM) (25 µmol/L), but not with ethylene glycol‐bis(2‐aminoethylether)‐N,N,N′,N′‐tetraacetic acid acetoxymethyl ester (EGTA‐AM) (25 µmol/L), abolished the responses with long delays. The dependence of quantal content and synchrony of quantal release on calcium and strontium concentrations have quite different slopes, suggesting that they are governed by different mechanisms.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN RETRACTED: Functional nerve growth factor and trkA autocrine/paracrine circuits in adult rat cortex are revealed by episodic ethanol exposure and withdrawal
Authors: Bruns Marla B. , Miller Michael W. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractThe hypothesis tested is that cortical neurotrophins communicate through an inducible autocrine/paracrine mechanism. As ethanol (Et) can induce cortical nerve growth factor (NGF) expression, adult rats were challenged with Et on three consecutive days per week for 6 weeks. The focus of the study was layer V, the chief repository of receptor‐expressing neuronal cell bodies. Brains were collected immediately after the sixth Et exposure or 72 h later [i.e., following withdrawal (WD)]. Double‐label in situ hybridization–immunohistochemistry studies showed that many neuronal somata co‐expressed NGF mRNA with NGF, trkA, or phosphorylated trk (p‐trk), essential components of an inducible autocrine system. The frequencies of co‐labeling were affected by neither Et nor WD. On the contrary, Et increased the number of NGF mRNA‐expressing neurons and the amount of NGF mRNA expressed per cell. Et also increased total cortical concentration of NGF protein, the number of layer V neurons expressing trkA transcript, the amount of trkA mRNA expressed per neuron, and trkA phosphorylation. Following WD, the frequency of NGF‐mRNA‐expressing cells increased, although transcript and protein content fell. WD induced an increase in trkA mRNA and protein expression, however, p‐trk expression was unaffected. Thus, Et treatment reveals that layer V has inducible autocrine/paracrine and anterograde neurotrophin systems. WD unveils the dynamism and recruitability of these systems.
Expression of annexin A2 in GABAergic interneurons in the normal rat brain
Authors: Zhao Wei‐Qin , Lu Bai 
Published: December 2006

AbstractExpression of the Ca2+‐dependent phospholipids binding protein annexin A2 (ANX2) in the brain is thought to be largely associated with brain pathological conditions such as tumor, inflammation, and neurodegeneration. The recent findings that ANX2 heterotetramer is involved in learning and neuronal activities necessitates a systematic investigation of the physiological expression of ANX2 in the brain. With combination of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, ANX2 mRNA and protein were specifically detected in a group of GABAergic interneurons throughout the brain. Although ANX2 was absent from the interior of pyramidal neurons, it was found on the membrane and seemly the extracellular space of those neurons, where they closely co‐localized with glutamate decarboxylase terminals. In cultured developing neurons, ANX2 was present at high concentrations in the growth cones co‐distributing with several growth‐associated proteins such as growth associated protein 43 (GAP43), turned on after division/Ulip/CRMP (TUC‐4), tubulin, and tissue‐plasminogen activator. It then became predominantly distributed on the membrane and mostly in axonal branches as neurons grew and extended synaptic networks. ANX2 was also secreted from cultured neurons, in a membrane‐bound form that was Ca2+‐dependent, which was significantly increased by neuronal depolarization. These results may have implications in the function and regulatory mechanism of ANX2 in the normal brain.
Truncated tyrosine kinase B brain‐derived neurotrophic factor receptor directs cortical neural stem cells to a glial cell fate by a novel signaling mechanism
Authors: Cheng Aiwu , Coksaygan Turhan , Tang Hongyan , Khatri Rina , Balice‐Gordon Rita J. , Rao Mahendra S. , Mattson Mark P. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractDuring development of the mammalian cerebral cortex neural stem cells (NSC) first generate neurons and subsequently produce glial cells. The mechanism(s) responsible for this developmental shift from neurogenesis to gliogenesis is unknown. Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is believed to play important roles in the development of the mammalian cerebral cortex; it enhances neurogenesis and promotes the differentiation and survival of newly generated neurons. Here, we provide evidence that a truncated form of the BDNF receptor tyrosine kinase B (trkB‐t) plays a pivotal role in directing embryonic mouse cortical NSC to a glial cell fate. Expression of trkB‐t promotes differentiation of NSC toward astrocytes while inhibiting neurogenesis both in cell culture andin vivo. The mechanism by which trkB‐t induces astrocyte genesis is not simply the result of inhibition of full‐length receptor with intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity signaling. Instead, binding of BDNF to trkB‐t activates a signaling pathway (involving a G‐protein and protein kinase C) that induced NSC to become glial progenitors and astrocytes. Thus, the increased expression of trkB‐t in the embryonic cerebral cortex that occurs coincident with astrocyte production plays a pivotal role in the developmental transition from neurogenesis to gliogenesis. Our findings suggest a mechanism by which a single factor (BDNF) regulates the production of the two major cell types in the mammalian cerebral cortex.
Identification of microsatellite markers in Plasmodium mexicanum, a lizard malaria parasite that infects nucleated erythrocytes
Authors: SCHALL JOS J. , VARDO ANNE M. 
Published: December 2006

AbstractReptile and bird hosts of malaria parasites (Plasmodium) have nucleated erythrocytes. Infected blood thus contains a mix of abundant host and scant parasite DNA which has prevented identification of Plasmodium microsatellites. We developed a protocol for isolation of microsatellite markers for Plasmodium mexicanum, a parasite of lizards. The ATT repeat was common in the genome of P. mexicanum, but most (87%) of these repeats were exceptionally long (50–206 + repeats). Seven microsatellite markers with polymerase chain reaction primers are described. The protocol should allow discovery of microsatellites of malaria parasites (with AT‐rich genomes) infecting bird and reptile hosts.