'A good person does not feel envy': envy in a nursing community

The definition of envy is commonly based on psychoanalytical views of organizational culture. The purpose of this paper is to describe envy in a nursing community. The population study consisted of random sample of 120 subjects drawn from among the employees of one central hospital in Finland. The study material consisted of data collected by questionnaires (response rate 65%). The data were processed by various statistical methods. Open-ended questions were analysed by inductive content analysis. The results of this study indicated that the employee's view of his/her official position in the nursing community, his/her relationships with his/her fellow workers and the management as well as relationships with other nursing communities are all related to envy. The employee's view of his/her official position intensified his/her feelings of envy, if he/she had other negative feelings, anxiety, dissatisfaction with him/herself, and negative feelings towards fellow workers. The major object of envy was fellow workers' salaries. Envy towards other nursing communities was generated by alleged differences in the amount of labour, or by the charge nurse's greater interest in other sections. Employees coped with envy by hiding these feelings and being modest. Women coped with envy by being silent, while men denied the value of the object of envy.     

The life situation of a long-term psychiatric patient: some restrictions in, and possibilities of, open care

This paper describes and analyses, from a sociocultural viewpoint, the ways of life of discharged long-term psychiatric patients in northern Finland The paper focuses on subjectivity control of life and fundamental experiences in life The data consist of interviews with 25 outpatients who have moved to live in residential homes, rehabilitation centres or their own homes after receiving preparatory training in the psychiatric hospital The findings suggest that the way of life of the outpatients did not significantly differ from that of other people belonging to the same generation of Finns With respect to control of life, a conspicuous feature was the strong tendency to let themselves be led by others, and to self-sacrifice for the good of others For the patients, independence was the best aspect of open care Fear for being branded as a psychiatric case or as a former mental patient threatened the patients'external control of life The central element of control of life of the Finns is work The outpatients thought work a matter of honour and they did not find their present, inactive way of life satisfactory     

Correlation between bone marrow karyotype and the occurrence of erythroblast micronuclei and nuclear budding in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes

147 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes were investigated for the presence of micronuclei and nuclear budding in bone marrow erythroblasts. The patients were divided into subgroups on the basis of bone marrow karyotype, 31 healthy bone marrow donors constituted a control group. Patients with monosomy 7 or 7q- and patients with major karyotypic abnormalities (MAKA) had significantly more erythroblasts with micronuclei and nuclear budding than the control group. Patients with a 5q- chromosome as the sole karyotypic aberration had more micronuclei than the controls. For other patients with MDS the differences were statistically nonsignificant.     

Is it possible to prevent bacterial adhesion onto ureteric stents?

The aim of this study was to determine whether the use of bactericidal coatings or immersion in antibiotic solution reduces or prevents bacterial adhesion onto ureteric stents. Precut segments of full silicone, silver-coated and hydrogel-coated ureteric stents were incubated with two uropathogenic bacterial strains with and without previous immersion in antibiotic solution. Tobramycin, ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin solutions were used, as these antibiotics are commonly administered for the prophylaxis and treatment of urinary tract infection (UTI). Microbiological analysis showed that immersion of ureteric stents in ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin yielded a significant reduction of bacterial adhesion, whereas immersion in tobramycin did not. The surface material of the stents had no direct influence on bacterial adhesion. In this experimental study, neither the silver nor the hydrogel coat reduced bacterial adhesion onto ureteric stents whereas immersion in a suitable antibiotic solution significantly reduced and even prevented this phenomenon, probably due to the adhesion of the antibiotic onto the stent surface. Prevention of bacterial adhesion onto ureteric stents is essential to reduce the risk of UTI in connection with these devices.     

Urethral blood circulation during cardiopulmonary bypass

The haemodynamic changes induced by extracorporeal circulation (ECC) are thought to be important in the induction of urethral strictures in open heart surgery when indwelling latex catheters are used. In the present study, 6 piglets were cannulated and connected to extracorporeal perfusion apparatus. Pump flows correlated with human ECC values with non-haemic prime were used. The mucosal and submucosal blood circulation in the urethra reduced by 66% during ECC (P less than 0.05). The brain and hepatic arterial flows increased. A significant reduction was seen in renal blood circulation. The changes in the urethral blood circulation during ECC correlated with previous findings. The reduced wash out levels of chemicals leaching from the indwelling latex catheters as a result of reduced local blood circulation are the main trigger for the induction of urethral strictures during ECC and in other shock-like circulatory disturbances in the human body.     

Combined adrenal adenoma and myelolipoma in a patient with Conn syndrome. Case report.

Adrenal myelolipoma is an uncommon benign tumor usually discovered by chance in patients with hypertension, obesity, arteriosclerosis or cancer. The association with adrenocortical endocrine dysfunctions is rare. We report herein an unusual case, the second in the literature to the best of our knowledge, of combined adrenal adenoma and myelolipoma in a patient with Conn syndrome.     

Evaluation of sampling sites for detection of upper respiratory tract carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae among healthy Filipino infants.

Two sampling techniques, nasal swabbing and oropharyngeal swabbing, for detection of the upper respiratory tract carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae were studied prospectively with 296 healthy Filipino infants at various ages: 6 to 8, 10 to 12, 14 to 17, 18 to 22, 32 to 39, and 46 to 65 weeks. In all age groups S. pneumoniae was isolated significantly more often (P < 0.0001) from the nasal site than from the oropharyngeal site. H. influenzae was found equally often at both sites.     

Molecular and biological analysis of echovirus 9 strain isolated from a diabetic child

The full-length infectious cDNA clone was constructed and sequenced from the strain DM of echovirus 9, which was recently isolated from a 6-week-old child at the clinical onset of type 1 diabetes. Parallel with the isolate DM, the full-length infectious cDNA clone of the prototype strain echovirus 9 Barty (Barty-INF), was constructed and sequenced. Genetic relationships of the sequenced echo 9 viruses to the other members of the human enterovirus type B species were studied by phylogenetic analyses. Comparison of capsid protein sequences showed that the isolate DM was closely related to both prototype strains: Hill and Barty-INF. The only exception was the inner capsid protein VP4 where serotype specificity was not evident and the isolate DM clustered with the strain Hill and the strain Barty-INF with echovirus 30 Bastianni. Likewise, the nonstructural protein coding region, P2P3, of isolate DM was more similar to strain Hill than to strain Barty-INF. However, like echovirus 9 Barty, the isolate DM contained the RGD-motif in the carboxy terminus of capsid protein VP1. By blocking experiments using an RGD-containing peptide and a polyclonal rabbit antiserum to the alpha(v)beta(3)-integrin, it was shown that this molecule works as a cellular receptor for isolate DM. By using primary human islets, it was shown that the isolate DM is capable of infecting insulin-producing beta-cells like the corresponding prototype strains did. However, only isolate DM was clearly cytolytic for beta-cells. The infectious clones that were made allow further investigations of the molecular features responsible for the diabetogenicity of the isolate DM.     

Laccase from the white-rot fungus Trametes versicolor: cDNA cloning of lcc1 and expression in Pichia pastoris

A cDNA coding for laccase was isolated from the ligninolytic fungus Trametes versicolor by RNA-PCR. The cDNA corresponds to the gene lcc1, which encodes a laccase isoenzyme of 498 amino-acid residues preceded by a 22-residue signal peptide. The lcc1 cDNA was cloned into the vector pHIL-D2 for expression in Pichia pastoris under the control of the AOX1 promoter. Transformants were found to secrete active recombinant enzyme after induction with methanol. The use of growth medium buffered to pH 6.0 and control of pH during cultivation were found to be important, or even necessary, for obtaining activity in liquid cultures. The effect of exchanging the native secretion signal for the Saccharomyces cerevisiae α-factor pre-pro secretion signal was studied by cloning the portion encoding the mature enzyme into the vector pPIC9. The activity obtained for the construct encoding the native laccase signal sequence was found to be seven-fold higher than for the construct encoding the α-factor secretion signal. Utilisation of the P. pastoris pep4 mutant strain SMD1168 was found to provide a two-fold higher level of activity compared with P. pastoris GS115. Received: 16 May / 8 August 1997