bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Determinants of early retirement intentions among Belgian nurses
Authors: Boumans Nicolle P.G. , De Jong Ad H.J. , Vanderlinden Liesbeth 
Published: June 2008

AbstractTitle.  Determinants of early retirement intentions among Belgian nurses Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to gain insight into older nurses’ retirement intentions and to establish factors determining early retirement intention in these individuals.Background.  In many developed countries, the working population is ageing. This will lead to a structural labour shortage in the near future. In nursing, this is already taking place. To retain nurses in employment, information on the determinants of their early retirement intentions are imperative.Method.  A cross‐sectional study was carried out in 2005 in one Belgian hospital. Data were collected by questionnaire with 100 nurses aged 45 or older. The response rate was 69·9%.Findings.  No fewer than 77% of the nurses wanted to stop working before the age of 65 years. The following individual, work‐related, and organizational factors contributed to older nurses’ intention to retire early: perceived health, marital status, gender, opportunities for change and development, workload, and negative stereotyping of older employees.Conclusion.  Our findings offer insight regarding the influencing factors of early retirement intentions in nurses. This information may be useful to human resource managers and may enable them to successfully prevent early retirement in nurses. More research on this topic is needed as this will enable the development, implementation and evaluation of well‐founded measures for retaining older nurses in the workplace.
Predictors of health‐related quality of life in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea
Authors: Ye Lichuan , Liang Zong‐an , Weaver Terri E. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractTitle.  Predictors of health‐related quality of life in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to identify the common symptoms and demographic and physiological factors of obstructive sleep apnoea that are predictive of health‐related quality of life in a Chinese population.Background.  Health‐related quality of life impairment in obstructive sleep apnoea is an increasingly important consideration, but little is known about the factors that influence quality of life in this population.Method.  A total of 108 Chinese patients with newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnoea were recruited in 2003 and assessed for health‐related quality of life, daytime sleepiness, depression and anxiety. Associations between symptoms, demographic and physiological factors and quality of life were examined by Pearson linear correlation. Hierarchical multiple regression were used to determine predictors of overall quality of life and its dimensions.Results.  Forty‐six patients (42·6%) had depressed mood and 21 (19·4%) were anxious. Fifty‐nine (54·6%) were hypersomnolent. The severity of symptoms of sleepiness, depression, and anxiety was statistically significantly inversely correlated with each domain and the total score for health‐related quality of life. No statistically significant correlation was observed between disease severity and quality of life. Controlling for age and gender, anxiety and sleepiness predicted 45·2% of the variance of overall quality of life (R2 = 0·452, P < 0·001). Anxiety was the strongest predictor of overall and each domain of health‐related quality of life.Conclusion.  Assessment of mood in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea should be an essential part of nursing practice. Comprehensive evaluation of symptoms, especially mood disturbance, is important for improving quality of life for these patients.
Non‐technical skills of the operating theatre scrub nurse: literature review
Authors: Mitchell Lucy , Flin Rhona 
Published: June 2008

AbstractTitle.  Non‐technical skills of the operating theatre scrub nurse: literature review. Aim.  This paper is a report of a review to identify the non‐technical (cognitive and social) skills used by scrub nurses.Background.  Recognition that failures in non‐technical skills contributed to accidents in high‐risk industries led to the development of research programmes to study the role of cognition and social interactions in operational safety. Recently, psychological research in operating theatres has revealed the importance of non‐technical skills in safe and efficient performance. Most of the studies to date have focused on anaesthetists and surgeons.Data sources.  On‐line sources and university library catalogues, publications of the Association for Perioperative Practice, National Association of Theatre Nurses and Association of Peri‐Operative Registered Nurses were searched in 2007.Review methods.  Studies were included in the review if they presented data from scrub nurses on one or more of their non‐technical skills. These findings were examined in relation to an existing medical non‐technical skills framework with categories of communication, teamwork, leadership, situation awareness and decision‐making.Results.  Of 424 publications retrieved, 13 were reviewed in detail. Ten concerned communication and eight of those also had data on teamwork. In 11 papers teamwork was examined, and one focused on nurses’ situation awareness, teamwork and communication. None of the papers we reviewed examined leadership or decision‐making by scrub nurses.Conclusion.  Further work is needed to identify formally the non‐technical skills which are important to the role of scrub nurse and then to design training in the identified non‐technical skills during the education and development of scrub nurses.
Changes and challenges to patients’ lifestyle patterns following treatment for head and neck cancer
Authors: Semple Cherith Jane , Dunwoody Lynn , George Kernohan William , McCaughan Eilis , Sullivan Kate 
Published: June 2008

AbstractTitle.  Changes and challenges to patients’ lifestyle patterns following treatment for head and neck cancer. Aim.  This paper is a report of a study to explore the changes and challenges to patients’ lifestyles following treatment for head and neck cancer.Background.  Head and neck cancer affects some of the most basic aspects of daily functioning, such as eating and speaking. There has been a rapid increase in the number of studies on the quality of life for people with head and neck cancer, but most studies have used quantitative methodology.Methods.  Using a qualitative approach, data were collected in 2004 using semi‐structured interviews with a purposive sample of 10 participants who had completed treatment 6–12 months earlier for head and neck cancer. A thematic analysis was employed to interpret the findings.Findings.  Following thematic analysis seven broad themes were identified, five of which covered areas of changes and challenges to participants’ lifestyles following treatment. These were: physical changes, concerns about cancer, work and day‐to‐day tasks, interpersonal relationships and social functioning. The concerns and challenges experienced following treatment were not limited to one aspect of an individual’s lifestyle but spanned a number of the themes identified, highlighting the complexity of needs following treatment for head and neck cancer. The other two themes concerned personal attributes that facilitated or inhibited posttreatment coping and specific information needs in the posttreatment period.Conclusion.  Specific posttreatment concerns and challenges cannot be viewed as unitary or discrete aspects of life, but should be considered within a biopsychosocial context, to address patients’ needs holistically.
Profiles and cognitive predictors of motor functions among early school‐age children with mild intellectual disabilities
Authors: Wuang Y.‐P. , Wang C.‐C. , Huang M.‐H. , Su C.‐Y. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractBackground  The purpose of the study was to describe sensorimotor profile in children with mild intellectual disability (ID), and to examine the association between cognitive and motor function.Methods  A total of 233 children with mild ID aged 7 to 8 years were evaluated with measures of cognitive, motor and sensory integrative functioning.Results  Children with mild ID performed significantly less well on all test measures. 44.2% of children scored in the impaired range on seven out of 22 sensorimotor measures. They had weaker fine motor skills than gross motor skills. Sensory integrative functions were only mildly impaired. Total IQ substantially predicted overall performance on each motor test. Specifically, verbal comprehension and processing speed indexes were significant predictors of gross and fine motor function.Conclusions  Sensorimotor dysfunctions were found to be very frequent in children with mild ID. Early identification of sensorimtor impairments is essential to prompt early intervention and facilitate better integration into regular school settings.
Pharmacological management of inappropriate sexual behaviours: a review of its evidence, rationale and scope in relation to men with intellectual disabilities
Authors: Sajith S. G. , Morgan C. , Clarke D. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractBackground  The management of inappropriate sexual behaviours (ISB) including sexual offending is difficult, especially when the person treated has intellectual disabilities (ID). Psychological therapies are the accepted first line of treatment. Pharmacological treatments have also been advocated, particularly for people who have committed serious sexual offences. There is limited information on available drugs and evidence of their efficacy in the treatment of ISBs, in particular for people with ID.Methods  A literature search of electronic databases was undertaken. Pharmaceutical companies were contacted for unpublished information. Trials that included people with ID were systematically reviewed for the benefits and outcome in that population.Results  Androgen depleting drugs (cyproterone acetate, medroxyprogesterone acetate and luteinising hormone releasing hormone agonists) and psychotropic drugs (serotonin specific reuptake inhibitors and antipsychotics) are the two major categories of medications used in the treatment of ISBs. The majority of studies identified were open trials and most relied on self‐report measures. Trials that included people with ID were few in number. Most trials indicated beneficial effects including reduction in sexually deviant fantasies and behaviours.Conclusion  The quality of evidence base for the use of pharmacological agents in the treatment of ISBs is inadequate to justify their use in routine clinical practice. If used, they should only be a part of a comprehensive treatment programme and closely monitored. In addition, there are several clinical, ethical and legal issues to be addressed before considering pharmacological treatment of ISBs in people with ID.
Identification of personal factors that determine work outcome for adults with intellectual disability
Authors: Martorell A. , Gutierrez‐Recacha P. , Pereda A. , Ayuso‐Mateos J. L. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractBackground Access to employment for people with intellectual disability (ID) has become a social priority. The aim of the present study is to try to determine which variables [sociodemographic variables, intelligence quotient (IQ), presence or absence of a psychiatric disorder, functioning, self‐determination, and behavioural problems] could most reliably account for access to remunerated employment of people with ID.Methods Two groups of people with ID participated in this study: (1) 69 workers in a sheltered‐employment programme; and (2) 110 clients of programmes in sheltered workshops. Both programmes were run by the Pardo‐Valcarce Foundation in Madrid (Spain). The following variables were assessed for every participant: IQ, functioning, behavioural problems, self‐determination and presence of psychiatric symptoms. A binary logistic regression analysis was carried out in order to identify the variables that best explained work outcome (sheltered workshop programme vs. sheltered employment programme).Results Although IQ showed no significant differences between the two groups of participants, the remaining variables did: behavioural problems, functioning, psychiatric symptoms and self‐determination significantly explained work outcome. As for sociodemographic variables, whereas gender did not show any significant relationship with the labour status of the participants, significant differences were found when considering variables such as age and pension benefits.Conclusions All the main variables considered, except IQ, turned out to be significant. Our findings should be considered encouraging, as they apparently show that both personal and social efforts can help individuals to overcome their low intellectual functioning in order to achieve access to employment. Such study highlights the importance of a prior psychopathological evaluation and efforts to enhance self‐determination in order to improve work inclusion for people with ID.
Genetic structure of an expanding Armillaria root rot fungus (Armillaria ostoyae) population in a managed pine forest in southwestern France
Authors: PROSPERO S. , LUNG‐ESCARMANT B. , DUTECH C. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractThe Landes de Gascogne forest (southwestern France) is the largest maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) plantation in Europe. Armillaria root disease (Armillaria ostoyae) has been reported since the early 1920s in the coastal area (western sector), but its incidence over the last 20 years has increased in the eastern sector. We investigated the genetic structure of the A. ostoyae population in this forest, focusing particularly on geographical differentiation potentially indicative of disease expansion in this area. In total, 531 isolates obtained from mycelial fans on symptomatic trees or undecayed stumps in 31 different disease foci were genotyped at five microsatellite loci. In 20 of these disease foci, a single genotype dominated, reflecting a predominantly clonal local spread of A. ostoyae. By contrast, at the regional scale, A. ostoyae probably spreads mostly via basidiospores (sexual spores), as no genotype common to several disease foci was identified. The absence of a clear pattern of isolation by distance may indicate either substantial gene flow or stochastic colonisation independent of spatial distance. The gradient of genetic diversity from the coast inwards and the greater genetic divergence of the eastern disease foci are consistent with the expansion of the A. ostoyae population from the coast eastwards.
Pollen flow in the wildservice tree, Sorbus torminalis (L.) Crantz. IV. Whole interindividual variance of male fecundity estimated jointly with the dispersal kernel
Authors: KLEIN E. K. , DESASSIS N. , ODDOU‐MURATORIO S. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractInterindividual variance of male reproductive success (MRS) contributes to genetic drift, which in turn interacts with selection and migration to determine the short‐term response of populations to rapid changes in their environment. Individual relative MRS can be estimated through paternity analysis and can be further dissected into fecundity and spatial components. Existing methods to achieve this decomposition either rely on the strong assumption of a random distribution of pollen donors (TwoGener) or estimate only the part of the variance of male fecundity that is explained by few covariates. We developed here a method to estimate jointly the whole variance of male fecundity and the pollen dispersal curve from the genotypic information of sampled seeds and their putative fathers and geographical information of all individuals in the study area. We modelled the relative individual fecundities as a log‐normally distributed random effect. We used a Bayesian approach, well suited to the hierarchical nature of the model, to estimate these fecundities. When applied to Sorbus torminalis, the estimated variance of male fecundity corresponded to an effective density of trees 13 times lower than the observed density (dobs/dep ~ 13). This value is between the value (~2) estimated with a classical mating model including three covariates (neighbourhood density, diameter, flowering intensity) that affect fecundity and the value (~30) estimated with TwoGener. The estimated dispersal kernel was close to previous results. This approach allows fine monitoring of ongoing genetic drift in natural populations, and quantitative dissection of the processes contributing to drift, including human actions.
Diversification in the northern neotropics: mitochondrial and nuclear DNA phylogeography of the iguana Ctenosaura pectinata and related species
Authors: ZARZA EUGENIA , REYNOSO VICTOR H. , EMERSON BRENT C. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractWhile Quaternary climatic changes are considered by some to have been a major factor promoting speciation within the neotropics, others suggest that much of the neotropical species diversity originated before the Pleistocene. Using mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data, we evaluate the relative importance of Pleistocene and pre‐Pleistocene events within the evolutionary history of the Mexican iguana Ctenosaura pectinata, and related species. Results support the existence of cryptic lineages with strong mitochondrial divergence (> 4%) among them. Some of these lineages form zones of secondary contact, with one of them hybridizing with C. hemilopha. Evolutionary network analyses reveal the oldest populations of C. pectinata to be those of the northern and southern Mexican coastal regions. Inland and mid‐latitudinal coastal populations are younger in age as a consequence of a history of local extinction within these regions followed by re‐colonization. Estimated divergence times suggest that C. pectinata originated during the Pliocene, whereas geographically distinct mitochondrial DNA lineages first started to diverge during the Pliocene, with subsequent divergence continuing through the Pleistocene. Our results highlight the influence of both Pliocene and Pleistocene events in shaping the geographical distribution of genetic variation within neotropical lowland organisms. Areas of high genetic diversity in southern Mexico were detected, this finding plus the high levels of genetic diversity within C. pectinata, have implications for the conservation of this threatened species.
Glacial bottleneck and postglacial recolonization of a seed parasitic weevil, Curculio hilgendorfi, inferred from mitochondrial DNA variation
Authors: AOKI K. , KATO M. , MURAKAMI N. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractClimatic changes during glacial periods have had a major influence on the recent evolutionary history of living organisms, even in the warm temperate zone. We investigated phylogeographical patterns of a weevil Curculio hilgendorfi (Curculionidae), a host‐specific seed predator of Castanopsis (Fagaceae) growing in the broadleaved evergreen forests in Japan. We examined 2709 bp of mitochondrial DNA for 204 individuals collected from 62 populations of the weevil. Four major haplogroups were detected, in southwestern and northeastern parts of the main islands and in central and southern parts of the Ryukyu Islands. The demographic population expansion was detected for the two groups in the main islands but not for the Ryukyu groups. The beginning time of the expansion was dated to 39 000–59 000 years ago, which is consistent with the end of the last glacial period. Our data also demonstrated that the southwestern population of the main islands has experienced a more severe bottleneck and more rapid population growth after glacial ages than the northeastern population. At least three refugial areas in the main islands were likely to have existed during the last glacial periods, one of which had not previously been recognized by analyses of intraspecific chloroplast DNA variation of several plant species growing in the broadleaved evergreen forests. Our results represent the first phylogeographical and population demographic analysis of an insect species associated with the broadleaved evergreen forests in Japan, and reveal more detailed postglacial history of the forests.
Origin and post‐colonization evolution of the Chatham Islands skink (Oligosoma nigriplantare nigriplantare)
Authors: LIGGINS LIBBY , CHAPPLE DAVID G. , DAUGHERTY CHARLES H. , RITCHIE PETER A. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractIsland ecosystems provide an opportunity to examine a range of evolutionary and ecological processes. The Chatham Islands are an isolated archipelago situated approximately 800 km east of New Zealand. Geological evidence indicates that the Chatham Islands re‐emerged within the last 1–4 million years, following a prolonged period of marine inundation, and therefore the resident flora and fauna is the result of long‐distance overwater dispersal. We examine the origin and post‐colonization evolution of the Chatham Islands skink, Oligosoma nigriplantare nigriplantare, the sole reptile species occurring on the archipelago. We sampled O. n. nigriplantare from across nine islands within the Chatham Islands group, and representative samples from across the range of its closest relative, the New Zealand mainland common skink (Oligosoma nigriplantare polychroma). Our mitochondrial sequence data indicate that O. n. nigriplantare diverged from O. n. polychroma 5.86–7.29 million years ago. This pre‐dates the emergence date for the Chatham Islands, but indicates that O. n. nigriplantare colonized the Chatham Islands via overwater dispersal on a single occasion. Despite the substantial morphological variability evident in O. n. nigriplantare, only relatively shallow genetic divergences (maximum divergence ~2%) were found across the Chatham Islands. Our analyses (haplotypic diversity, ΦST, analysis of molecular variance, and nested clade phylogeographical analysis) indicated restricted gene flow in O. n. nigriplantare resulting in strong differentiation between islands. However, the restrictions to gene flow might have only arisen recently as there was also a significant pattern of isolation by distance, possibly from when the Chatham Islands were a single landmass during Pleistocene glacial maxima when sea levels were lower. The level of genetic and morphological divergence between O. n. nigriplantare and O. n. polychroma might warrant their recognition as distinct species.
A genetic assessment of polyandry and breeding‐site fidelity in lemon sharks
Authors: DiBATTISTA JOSEPH D. , FELDHEIM KEVIN A. , THIBERT‐PLANTE XAVIER , GRUBER SAMUEL H. , HENDRY ANDREW P. 
Published: June 2008

AbstractWe here employ 11 microsatellite markers and recently developed litter reconstruction methods to infer mating system parameters (i.e. polyandry and breeding‐site fidelity) at a lemon shark nursery site in Marquesas Key, Florida. Four hundred and eight juvenile or subadult sharks were genotyped over eight complete breeding seasons. Using this information, we were able to infer family structure, as well as fully or partially reconstruct genotypes of 46 mothers and 163 fathers. Multiple litter reconstruction methods were used, and novel simulations helped define apparent bias and precision of at least some mating system parameters. For Marquesas Key, we find that adult female lemon sharks display high levels of polyandry (81% of all litters sampled) and stronger fidelity to the nursery site than do males. Indeed, few male sharks sired offspring from more than one litter during the course of the study. These findings were quite similar to previous results from another lemon shark nursery site (Bimini, Bahamas), suggesting conserved mating system parameters despite significant variation in early life‐history traits (i.e. body size and growth) among sites. The finding of at least some site fidelity in females also supports the need for careful conservation of each nursery.