Exploring recruitment,willingness to participate,and retention of low-SES women in stress and depression prevention

Background  

Recruitment, willingness to participate, and retention in interventions are indispensable for successful prevention. This study investigated the effectiveness of different strategies for recruiting and retaining low-SES women in depression prevention, and explored which sociodemographic characteristics and risk status factors within this specific target group are associated with successful recruitment and retention.     

Assessment of regional changes in skeletal metabolism following 3 and 18 months of teriparatide treatment

Teriparatide (TPTD) increases skeletal mass, bone turnover markers, and bone strength, but in vivo effects at individual skeletal sites have not been characterized. Quantitative radionuclide imaging studies reflect bone blood flow and osteoblast activity to assess regional changes in bone metabolism. Changes in bone plasma clearance using technetium‐99m methylene diphosphonate (^99mTc‐MDP) were quantified and correlated with changes in bone turnover markers in 10 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Subjects underwent bone scintigraphy at baseline and 3 and 18 months after initiating TPTD 20 µg/day subcutaneously. Subjects were injected with 600 MBq ^99mTc‐MDP, and whole‐body bone scan images were acquired at 10 minutes and 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours. Multiple blood samples were taken between 5 minutes and 4 hours after treatment, and free ^99mTc‐MDP was measured using ultrafiltration. The Patlak plot method was used to evaluate whole‐skeleton ^99mTc‐MDP plasma clearance (K_bone) and derive regional bone clearance for the calvarium, mandible, spine, pelvis, and upper and lower extremities using gamma camera counts. Bone turnover markers were measured at baseline and 3, 12, and 18 months. Median increases from baseline in whole‐skeleton K_bone were 22.3% (p = .004) and 33.7% (p = .002) at 3 and 18 months, respectively. Regional K_bone values were increased significantly in all six subregions at 3 months and in all subregions except the pelvis at 18 months. Bone markers were increased significantly from baseline at 3 and 18 months and correlated significantly with whole‐skeleton K_bone. This is the first study showing a direct metabolic effect of TPTD at different skeletal sites in vivo, as measured by tracer kinetics. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research     

Low‐dose ultraviolet radiation selectively degrades chromophore‐rich extracellular matrix components

Photoageing of human skin due to chronic exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is characterized histologically by extensive remodelling of the dermal elastic fibre system. Whilst enzymatic pathways are thought to play a major role in mediating extracellular matrix (ECM) degeneration in UV‐exposed skin, the substrate specificity of UVR‐up‐regulated and activated matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) is low. It is unclear, therefore, how such cell‐mediated mechanisms alone could be responsible for the reported selective degradation of elastic fibre components such as fibrillin‐1 and fibulin‐5 during the early stages of photoageing. Here we use atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to demonstrate that physiologically attainable doses (20–100 mJ/cm²) of direct UV‐B radiation can induce profound, dose‐dependent, changes in the structure of, and mass distribution within, isolated fibrillin microfibrils. Furthermore, using reducing and native PAGE in combination with AFM, we show that, whilst exposure to low‐dose UV‐B radiation significantly alters the macromolecular and quaternary structures of both UV chromophore (Cys, His, Phe, Trp and Tyr)‐rich fibrillin microfibrils (fibrillin‐1, 21.0%) and fibronectin dimers (fibronectin, 12.9%), similar doses have no detectable effect on UV chromophore‐poor type I collagen monomers (2.2%). Analysis of the published primary amino acid sequences of 49 dermal ECM components demonstrates that most elastic fibre‐associated proteins, but crucially neither elastin nor members of the collagen family, are rich in UV chromophores. We suggest, therefore, that the amino acid composition of elastic fibre‐associated proteins [including the fibrillins, fibulins, latent TGFβ binding proteins (LTBPs) and the lysyl oxidase family of enzymes (LOK/LOXLs)] may predispose them to direct degradation by UVR. As a consequence, this selective acellular photochemical pathway may play an important role in initiating and/or exacerbating cell‐mediated ECM remodelling in UVR‐exposed skin. Copyright © 2010 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-frequency oscillatory ventilation in infants and children

The goal of mechanical ventilation in patients with acute lung injury is to support gas exchange and mitigate ventilator-associated lung injury. High-frequency oscillatory ventilation relies on the generation of a constant distending pressure, small tidal volumes and rapid respiratory rates with the intent to recruit atelectatic lung, reduce peak inflating pressures and limit volutrauma. The utilization of high-frequency oscillatory ventilation has dramatically increased in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. As there is an overlap between the intensive care unit and the operating room, anesthesiologists must be familiar with recent advances in the care of infants and children with acute respiratory failure. High-frequency oscillatory ventilation has been used successfully to manage patients with severe respiratory failure who have failed conventional mechanical ventilation. When initiated early, high-frequency oscillatory ventilation has been shown to improve oxygenation and reduce acute and chronic lung injury in neonates, infants and children. Further trials are necessary to better delineate the benefits and risks of this therapy in various patient populations.     

Biochemical analysis of specific histamine HI and H2 receptors on lymphocytes

It is increasingly clear that histamine mediates a variety of lymphocyte functions. Further understanding of these mechanisms requires a method for the analysis of histamine membrane receptors on the lymphocyte surface. We report now a biochemical technique for the identification and quantitation of specific histamine H1 and H2 receptors of lymphocytes. The method can be performed on small numbers of formaldehyde-fixed cells. The data this assay yields, together with that resulting from the flow cytometric analysis of histamine receptor distribution (a technique we have previously described), will be a powerful tool in the study of histamine mediation of lymphocyte function.     

Management of conflict: do nurses/women handle it differently?

Conflict management has been considered an essential aspect of organizational life Initially, conflict was to be avoided at all costs, but more recently conflict has been considered important for organizational development This paper uses a case study of conflict management of nurse educators as a basis for contrast with the conflict managing strategies of other women, staff nurses and nurse managers Other studies found that women and nurses tend to handle conflict using compromise and avoidance, with competition used the least often Nurse managers used compromise as their major strategy for handling conflict, while the staff nurses used avoidance Theories based on studies of women's socialization are posited to explain this phenomenon Several implications are discussed based on the premise that organizational studies of conflict management that explain men's behaviour do not necessarily explain women's (nurses') behaviour