EFFECT OF FREQUENT SUN EXPOSURE ON BACTERIAL COLONIZATION OF SKIN

The bacteria colonizing the surface of the skin of a group of frequent sunbathers and a group of infrequent sunbathers were surveyed. Frequent sunbathing does not greatly affect the total number of organisms on the skin, but does tend to increase the proportion of bacteria containing carotenoid pigments.     

Adapting Staffing Plans And Standards To Suit Budgets

The nurse in charge of staffing may find that she cannot afford the number and composition of staff required to implement ideal standards of care. If so, alternative staffing plans should be devised and it may be necessary to compromise standards of care. Another of her concerns, employee dissatisfaction with staffing policies, can be reduced by staff participation in the formulation of staffing policies and by thoroughly reviewing policies with new personnel.     

The aerobic cutaneous microflora of diabetic subjects

The microbial skin flora in a group of ninety-eight adults with diabetes mellitus requiring treatment with insulin is described. As in healthy adults with a similar age range, the dominant members of the flora are the micrococci and diphtheroids. Sarcina species and Micrococcus Baird-Parker Group 7 were more common than in the general population, and there was a higher incidence of erythrasma and increased carriage of fluorescent diphtheroids.     

A QUANTITATIVE STUEY OF ERYTHRASMA LESIONS

Summary.— Factors involved in the formation of erythrasma lesions are discussed. In the axillae and groins, the presence of scaling was a significant forerunner of the appearance of a fluorescent lesion. The total bacterial count, the counts of both fluorescent and non-fluorescent diphtherolds, were highest in areas showing both fluorescence and scaling, but the number of micrococci did not differ significantly between affected and non-affected sites.     

Symposium on Neural Crest Development

The following review articles are based on presentations given at a Symposium on Neural Crest Development, held in December 1996 at St George's Hospital Medical School, London. The Symposium formed part of the Winter Meeting of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. There were 6 invited speakers, 5 selected short presentations, and posters. The topics ranged widely, from autocrine regulation of Schwann cell development through clinical and animal disorders involving the melanocyte lineage, the heart and other organs, to the regulation of neural crest cell differentiation by cytokines.     

Postdischarge Services for Low-Birth-weight Infants

Efforts to improve infant mortality and morbidity should focus on preventing low birth weight and improving infant care. Although preventing low birth weight is the ultimate goal, nurses also must improve the care of infants who are born with low birth weights. This article examines postdischarge care for these infants and the nurse's role in providing follow-up services. Nurses have unique opportunities to influence infant well-being directly through continued contact with families and through interventions that support infant caregivers. However, continued research is needed to provide nurses with information about how follow-up for low-birth-weight infants can be best provided.     

Developmental assessment: 18 months to 4½ years. The Bus Puzzle Test

Summary The Bus Puzzle Test for assessing developing language and some performance skills has been standardized on a sample of 425 children living in an inner city area and a rural market town. The age range was 18 months to 4½ years. The study provides levels of achievement in comprehension by age and shows the importance of the 27–33 months period in the development of situational understanding. Assessment of expressive language takes account of the strategies employed by young children to express meaning. The early stages of form perception are examined. Results are provided in graphic and tabular forms and provide a data base for converting an individual child's scores into variation from average.