bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Implied consent prior to nursing care procedures
Authors: Aveyard Helen 
Published: March 2003

The aim of the paperis to demonstrate the nurses should be wary of relying on the concept of implied consent prior to nursing care procedures.Rationale. The difference between a patient who implies consent and who merely complies with a procedure is almost undetectable.Methods. An exploratory study, incorporating use of focus groups and critical incident technique to examine the way in which nurses obtain consent prior to nursing care procedures.Findings. Many nurses administer care without seeking verbal or written consent, but claim that the patient's consent is implied. However, there is evidence that care is often administered in the absence of information‐giving and that this perceived implied consent should more realistically be called compliance. Implied consent is consent for which information is a crucial component. There is evidence that the term implied consent signifies different things to different nurses. Furthermore, even if there is agreement about what constitutes implied consent, in practice, implied consent may be indistinguishable from compliance. Nurses who assume that they have the patient's implied consent, when in reality only have compliance, risk carrying out care procedures without the patient's consent.Conclusions. Nurses should be familiar with the principles of implied consent. They should be wary of relying on the use of implied consent prior to nursing care procedures because of the difficulty in distinguishing implied consent and compliance. Nurses should approach all aspects of care‐giving with the offer of information. In order to reduce the risk of misinterpretation of a patient's implied consent, they should seek the verbal affirmation of a patient prior to a nursing care procedure. Where nurses rely on the patient's implied consent, they should do so at their own discretion and with full understanding of the meaning of the term.
Help in times of crying: nurses' approach to parents with colicky infants
Authors: Helseth Sølvi 
Published: March 2003

Background. Colic, a condition that is well known to parents and nurses working in child health centres, is characterized by excessive crying. However, the criteria for defining colic are vague, there is no agreed definition and no effective treatment exists. Even though there is no cure for colic, nurses in child health centres have to deal with the condition as parents bring their crying infants to them. Aim. To develop an understanding of how nurses deal with infant colic/excessive crying, how the parents perceive nurses' contribution, and whether nursing makes a difference to the situation or not. Ethical issues and approval. The project was reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee in Norway where the study was carried out. Methods.  The design is explorative, and data were collected through qualitative in‐depth interviews with nurses and parents of crying infants. The analysis follows the guidelines of Kvale, which imply a phenomenological/hermeneutical mode of understanding. Findings. The primary aim of nursing is to assist parents in their efforts to cope with the challenges of infant colic. Nurses and parents differ to some extent in how they define the problems and the needs of the families. In addition, both parents and nurses question the nurses' knowledge and ability to help in this situation. A relationship with the parents based on trust is fundamental to enable the nurses to achieve their goals, but such a relationship is not always developed. Conclusions. Even though nursing interventions do not cure infant colic, the amount of crying may be reduced and life made easier for the families if the parents are offered help in coping with the situation. Consequently, this should be the primary aim of nursing when approaching families with a colicky infant.
Gender influences beliefs about health and illness in diabetic subjects with severe foot lesions
Authors: Hjelm Katarina , Nyberg Per , Apelqvist Jan 
Published: March 2003

Background.  No studies have been found regarding beliefs about health and illness in patients with diabetic foot ulcers investigated from a patient perspective. Beliefs might affect self‐care and health. Aim.  To explore beliefs about health and illness among patients with severe diabetic foot lesions that might affect self‐care practice and care‐seeking behaviour. Method.  The study design was explorative. A purposive sampling procedure was used. Focus group interviews were held, with 10 women and 11 men under 65 years (working age) and six women and 12 men over 65 years (range 23–83 years) with present or previous diabetic foot lesions managed at a specialized multidisciplinary diabetic foot clinic. Findings.  Foot problems were perceived by participants as caused by both external and internal factors related to the individual. Self‐care was practised to restore health when ill and in daily foot care. When help was needed it was sought in the professional sector. Women were active in self‐care and preventive care, searched for information and tried to adapt to the situation. Men more often sought help for acute problems, discussed more foot‐related problems, had a pessimistic view of the future, showed a passive attitude, accepted information given and used more complementary care from the lay sector (wife) and/or the professional sector (district nurse, home care staff, podiatrist). Foot lesions caused deterioration of perceived health and quality of life due to decreased ability to be active. Conclusion.  The present study emphasizes the need to take into account the existence of different beliefs about health and illness, especially regarding gender, in the prevention and management of the diabetic foot.
Swedish nursing students' attitudes to and awareness of research and development within nursing
Authors: Björkström Monica E. , Johansson Inger S. , Hamrin Elisabeth K. F. , Athlin Elsy E. 
Published: March 2003

Background. Nurses' attitudes towards research have been illuminated in many studies. However, there is still a need for more knowledge about the attitudes and awareness of undergraduate nursing students. Aim. To investigate Swedish undergraduate nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of research and development within nursing, and to illuminate factors that may have an impact on their attitudes and awareness. Methods. A questionnaire consisting of three parts: demographic data, attitude scale, and research awareness was used. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were used. Two hundred and one students participated in the study and the response rate was 77%. Cronbach's alpha test on the seven factors was between 0·52 and 0·80. Results. Most of the students had positive attitudes towards nursing research. More than half (60%) of the students expected to make use of nursing research sometime in the future and about 25% had never read any of the scientific nursing journals. The majority (77%) of the students were acquainted with at least one Swedish researcher, but few had attended a doctoral dissertation. Students with an interest in some particular development or research area in nursing were significantly more positive and expected to make use of nursing research more frequently. Other variables that were found to have some impact upon attitudes were gender, age and additional academic studies. Conclusion. Nursing students had an overall positive attitude towards nursing research and their interest in a particular development or research area was the most important variable for their attitudes and expected use of nursing research in the future. Therefore, it would seem to be important to encourage the students' interest in specific development/research areas of nursing during their education. In spite of the nursing students' positive attitudes to nursing research, the study demonstrates the theory–practice gap is still present to some degree.
Effects of habitat patchiness and connectivity on the spatial ecology of the root vole Microtus oeconomus
Authors: Bjørnstad Ottar N. , Andreassen Harry P. , Ims Rolf A. 
Published: March 2003

1.  The effect of habitat patchiness and connectivity on dispersal distances and spatial aggregation of individuals is investigated in 12 enclosed populations of the root vole, Microtus oeconomus, employing a factorial experimental design with three different patch configurations and two distinct geographical root vole strains. The three patch configurations, all with an identical total area, were: two large patches, six small patches and six small patches connected by corridors. 2.  The populations were followed for three generations (13. weeks) using live‐trapping. Matrilineal relationships, time and place of birth, and weekly home ranges were established for the 1155 individuals in the study. 3.  Smaller patch sizes enhanced dispersal, but most for one of the strains. The strain difference is, tentatively, explained by inbreeding avoidance which is known to differ between the strains. 4.  The effect of habitat configuration on the dispersion pattern was similar for the two strains. Increased patchiness increased the aggregation of individuals. The two sexes diverged in their response, however, females being more aggregated than males. 5.  The spatial pattern of matrilinearity was used as an indication of the resulting effect of habitat configuration on the demic structure in space. Patchiness enhanced and connectivity decreased the substructuring.
Effects of size and fluctuating asymmetry on field fitness of the parasitoid Trichogramma carverae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)
Authors: BENNETT  , HOFFMANN  
Published: March 2003

1.  The effects of body size and asymmetry in morphological traits on field fitness were studied in the parasitoid Trichogramma carverae. 2.  Significant fluctuating asymmetry was detected in four bristle counts and two wing measurements made on forewings. There was no evidence for directional asymmetry in any of the traits. An estimate of field fitness was obtained in grapevines by collecting released wasps arriving at oviposition sites consisting of egg rafts of the tortricid Epiphyas postvittana. 3.  Comparisons of ovipositing and emergence samples indicated that wasps at oviposition sites were relatively larger and more variable in their size distribution. A non‐parametric analysis of the relationship between fitness and size indicated that extremely large wasps had the highest fitness and suggested that small as well as large wasps may have had a fitness advantage. 4.  For asymmetry, the only trait showing an association with field fitness was wing length. Wasps with a low length asymmetry were more likely to be collected at oviposition sites, although fitness curves indicated that wasps had a similar fitness once an intermediate length asymmetry was exceeded. 5.  Mother–daughter comparisons for wasps from a genetically heterogeneous stock provided no evidence that size measures or asymmetries were heritable when wasps were reared on a factitious host. 6.  These findings have implications for improving parasitism rates in inundative releases.
Mortality during dispersal and the cost of host‐specificity in parasites: how many aphids find hosts?
Authors: Ward S. A. , Leather S. R. , Pickup J. , Harrington R. 
Published: March 2003

1. For a full assessment of explanations for the evolution of host‐specificity it is necessary to estimate the probability that a dispersing parasite finds a host. We develop a method of estimating this success rate from samples of dispersing parasites and populations resident on hosts. 2. Applying this method to data on the bird cherry‐oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), from southern Scotland in 1984–92, we estimate that 0·6% of the autumn migrants find hosts. 3. With such a low success rate, there should be selection for a broadening of host range, to include any host on which the colonist's fitness is more than about 0·6% of that on the normal hosts. We argue that neither nutrition nor the need for ‘enemy‐free space’ are sufficient explanations of the host‐specificity of this animal, and propose instead that it is the host's role as a rendezvous for mating that constrains the migrants to their costly host‐specificity. 4. We also discuss the implications of this low success rate for the hypothesis that aphids speciate sympatrically through the formation of host races.
Density‐dependent life histories in female bank voles from fluctuating populations
Authors: TKADLEC EMIL , ZEJDA JAN 
Published: March 2003

Summary

Using long‐term data sets from two lowland floodplain forest bank vole populations in central Europe, we tested two predictions that with increasing densities: (i) proportions of nonparous females in winter populations would increase; and (ii) age of both nonparous and parous females would increase. These two predictions follow from the assumption that changes in age structure are driven by density‐dependent shifts in age at first reproduction. Both populations were sampled by snap trapping between 1956 and 1976.
For each year, we examined samples of animals collected between November and April for proportions of females with and without breeding experience and analysed their variation in age relative to the population density. The presence or absence of placental scars was used to discriminate between the parous and nonparous animals. Age was determined by measuring the length of the first mandibular molar (M1) roots.
Both populations exhibited multi‐annual fluctuations in numbers closely resembling those in northern Fennoscandia. The proportion of nonparous females in our total sample was 0.73, suggesting that it is uncommon for parous female bank voles to breed in two successive years and that their life histories are largely designed for breeding in one season only as a major reproductive strategy.
Using a logistic‐binomial regression model, we found that the probability of females being nonparous or parous at capture varied significantly with time, space and population density. The final model producing the best fit to data predicted that the proportion of nonparous females would be slightly larger over winter and substantially larger after high‐density breeding seasons, which is consistent with the tested prediction.
With increasing densities during the breeding seasons, both the nonparous and parous females became older at the onset of winter. Again, the field evidence was consistent with the predicted pattern. The age of parous females in the autumn at high densities was older, mainly because of an increased proportion of females entering their second winter.
We propose a new intrinsic mechanism by which a delayed density dependence in age‐specific fitness components can arise in microtines. This mechanism, based on an increased bimodality in age at first reproduction towards northern latitudes, has a potential to explain the south‐north gradient in cyclicity observed in microtine populations in Fennoscandia.
Resource control by territorial male cichlid fish in Lake Malawi
Authors: Genner Martin. J. , Turner George. F. , Hawkins Stephen. J. 
Published: March 2003

1. The rocky habitat communities of Lake Malawi contain a high diversity of ecologically similar, predominantly herbivorous, cichlid fish species. How so many species can coexist is still unknown. 2. Adult males of the majority of these species hold permanent territories which form dense multispecies mosaics across the shores. 3. The study examined six coexisting species of cichlids from the rocky habitat where males are known to control access to the algal food resources within their territorial space. These included four sibling species of the Pseudotropheus (Tropheops) species complex, which are specialized epilithic algal herbivores, and two sibling species of the trophically more generalist P. (Maylandia) species complex which feed upon both epilithic algae and plankton. 4. The hypotheses that both intraspecific and interspecific territoriality occur in these communities and that interspecific aggression initiated by territorial males is preferentially directed at species with the most similar diets to their own were tested. 5. It was found that males preferred to exclude conspecific intruders, while they tolerated intruders with different diets to their own. Also, male P. (Tropheops) preferentially excluded similar heterospecific dietary specialists, while male P. (Maylandia) tolerated similar heterospecific dietary generalists. 6. Based on this study, it is proposed that interspecific territoriality may be reducing competition between species with different diets and promoting their coexistence, while it may be enhancing competition between species with the same diet. Furthermore, it suggests that ecological generalism may be reducing the intensity of interspecific competition, while specializations for the same resources may be increasing competition.
Can population growth rates vary with the spatial scale at which they are measured?
Authors: Steen Harald , Haydon Daniel 
Published: March 2003

1. The ratio of successive population censuses is often assumed to reflect population growth rates. We identify three simple potential sources of bias in the estimation of population growth rates that relate to either the total number of censused individuals or the spatial areas over which censuses are conducted. 2. The commonly used method of adding a constant to time series data to avoid problems caused by division by zero can lead to underestimation of growth rates at low densities in increasing populations. 3. Variances associated with density estimates can lead to positive bias in estimation of growth rates when populations are distributed in ephemeral patches. The spatial variance and spatio‐temporal covariance in bank vole census data suggest that this bias could be severe when small trapping grids are used. Use of logged estimators of growth rate avoids this problem. 4. Using census data from non‐randomly placed trapping grids that are smaller than twice the maximum range of natal dispersal to estimate population growth rates can lead to negatively biased estimates, particularly at low population densities. 5. These three sources of bias are evaluated as explanations for scale‐dependent changes in the estimates of growth rates identified in populations of snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), bank voles (Clethrionomys glareolus) and lemmings (Lemmus lemmus).
Weather‐mediated regulation of olive scale by two parasitoids
Authors: Rochat Jacques , Gutierrez Andrew Paul 
Published: March 2003

Summary

The effects of temperature and interspecific competition among two parasitoids (Aphytis maculicornis (=paramaculicornis) (Masi)–Coccophagoides utilis Doutt) of the olive scale (Parlatoria oleae (Colvée)) were examined, and the reason for the successful biological control of olive scale explained.
An age‐structure distributed maturation time model of this system was developed that simplifies many of the details of prior physiologically based models.
Temperature‐dependent physiological indices were used to scale fecundity and survivorship rates from their maximum values.
The distributed maturation time population dynamics model captured the variance in temperature‐related development times required to simulate the dynamics of the system.
A type III ratio‐dependent functional response was used to estimate parasitism rate on olive scale and also served to stabilize our single patch model.
The model confirms the Huffaker & Kennett (1966) conclusions concerning the role of weather and the relative contribution of the two parasitoids in the regulation of olive scale in California olive.
Maternal effects and the stability of population dynamics in noisy environments
Authors: Benton Tim G. , Ranta Esa , Kaitala Veijo , Beckerman Andrew P. 
Published: March 2003

SummaryIt is widely appreciated that complex population dynamics are more likely in systems where there is a lag in the density dependence. The transmission of maternal environmental conditions to offspring phenotype is a potential cause of such a lag. Maternal effects are increasingly found to be common in a wide range of organisms, and might thus be a frequent cause of nonequilibrium population dynamics.We show that a maternal effects’ lag generally increases population variability. This may result from the lag inducing cycles (or more complex dynamics) in a deterministic environment or, in a stochastic environment, from the lag interacting with environmental noise to produce more variable dynamics than would otherwise occur. This may happen whether the underlying dynamics are equilibrium, periodic or more complex.Although maternal effects may generally destabilize dynamics there are a clear set of exceptions to this. For example, including a maternal lag may convert cycles to equilibrium dynamics, which may revert to cycles when external noise is added.The influence of the maternal effect depends importantly on the details of the model, whether it is structured or unstructured, the life‐history traits which are maternally affected, and the type of density dependence.Our results indicate that, if maternal effects are possible, failure to include them in models used predictively may result in quantitatively, and perhaps qualitatively, poor predictions.
The cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, is a key organism for reef fish diversity at Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt
Authors: Bshary Redouan 
Published: March 2003

Summary

In marine cleaning symbioses, small fish or shrimps remove ectoparasites and other material from cooperating ‘client’ fish. Until now, there has been conflicting evidence with respect to the importance of cleaning for client health and in particular with respect to the impact of cleaning organisms on local fish diversity.
Data are provided on the impact of the cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus on reef fish distribution at Ras Mohammed National Park, Egypt. During four field seasons, I regularly sampled fish species composition in 46 reef patches. Natural fluctuations in cleaner fish presence or absence at these reef patches allowed me to assess how this variable correlates with reef fish diversity. In addition, cleaner fish were removed experimentally from some reef patches and added at others to test whether the presence or absence of cleaner fish causes changes in fish diversity.
Both cleaner fish disappearance and cleaner fish removal had no immediate effects on fish abundance, i.e. within the first few weeks. A significant decline in fish diversity was only detectable after 4–20 months.
In contrast, cleaner immigration or experimental addition led to a significant increase in fish diversity within the first few weeks.
Generally, effects were most pronounced for client species that visit reef patches and soon move off again, and less pronounced (but still significant) for resident clients that do not move between reef patches. Surprisingly, the presence or absence of cleaner fish also affected the distribution of resident fish that hardly ever interact with them.
This study demonstrates that cleaner fish are a key organism for local reef fish diversity.