Edna Dell Weinel, Champion of Public Health Nursing— Excerpts from an Oral History

ABSTRACT Edna Dell Weinel is a former executive director (1980–1991) of the Family Care Center, a federally funded neighborhood health center in St. Louis, Missouri; this position capped her career as a county public health nurse, state maternal-child nursing consultant, and educator. In all her positions, Weinel lived her values: working at one's highest level of skill, social justice, and teamwork, and used political skills to build alliances for the improvement of community health. Her many contributions to public health and public health nursing were recognized by the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association in 1993 with the Ruth B. Freeman Distinguished Career award. In interviews conducted early in 2007, Weinel spoke of her pride in being a public health nurse, her unchanging belief that health care can best be delivered by teams, and that public health nurses are an essential part of any effective team.     

Seizure outcome and pathological findings following temporal lobectomy in patients with complex partial seizures and foreign tissue lesions seen only on MRI

11 patients with foreign tissue lesions (FTL) in the temporal lobe associated with complex partial seizures (CPS) were studied. All had lesions clearly definable on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) but not seen on computerised tomographic (CT) scans. All cases showed seizure reduction following temporal lobectomy with 10 becoming seizure free. Pathology showed 9 tumours, 1 hamartoma and 1 cavernous angioma. Hippocampus was available for examination in 7 cases, showing abnormalities in 6. Our findings suggest MRI be mandatory in screening patients with CPS and that following surgery, outcome should be excellent.     

Temporal lobe dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour: significance of discordant interictal spikes.

PURPOSE: Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumours (DNET) are an important cause of refractory partial epilepsies. They usually occur within dysplastic cortex and tend to affect the temporal lobes. The EEG of these patients is characterised by slowing and/or epileptiform abnormalities with a multifocal distribution. We studied the EEG features of epilepsy patients with a temporal lobe DNET to assess the relationship of EEG abnormalities with the localisation of the tumour and the clinical features. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 16 patients with unilateral, temporal lobe DNET on MRI. The EEG abnormalities were classified as concordant to the lesion when the EEG discharges were confined to the ipsilateral temporal lobe or discordant when EEG discharges were found in other areas. Clinical and epilepsy characteristics were compared between patients with concordant and discordant EEG. RESULTS: Focal EEG abnormalities were found in 81% of the patients; 6/16 patients had concordant EEG abnormalities, and 7/16 patients had discordant EEG abnormalities. Epilepsy severity prior to the operation, antecedents and post-operative outcome were not different between patients with concordant or discordant EEG abnormalities. CONCLUSION: Patients with temporal lobe DNET often show EEG discharges discordant to the tumour. However, they do not appear to predict the clinical and epilepsy characteristics of these patients.     

Home Health Agency Preferences for Staff Nurse Qualifications, and Practices in Hiring and Orientation

The purpose of this study was to describe home health agency preferences with respect to staff nurse qualifications, and practices in hiring and orienting new staff. An 85-item home health staff nurse selection and orientation questionnaire was used to collect data from a random sample of 287 midwestern home health agencies in 12 states. Qualifications rated most highly were medical-surgical experience, venipuncture skills, completion of a physical assessment course, intravenous therapy skills, and patient-teaching skills. With agency sponsorship (traditional, proprietary, and hospital-based) as the independent variable, the three types of agencies were significantly different on ratings of six qualifications and six orientation topics. None of the agencies rated a BSN degree as very important or required, and the same was true for completion of a student experience in community health nursing. Preference for qualifications in this study is consistent with increasing acuteness of patients' illness and technologic complexity of home care.     

New dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease striatum

A new population of dopaminergic neurons has been identified in Parkinson's disease striatum. These neurons are sufficiently numerous to have an important effect on dopaminergic function in the striatum.     

Combining unprotected pancreatic enzymes with pH-sensitive enteric-coated microspheres does not improve nutrient digestion in patients with cystic fibrosis

OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of combining unprotected powder enzymes and oral enteric-coated microsphere (ECM) and to ECM alone in treating nutrient maldigestion in patients with cystic fibrosis. STUDY DESIGN: Patients were randomly assigned into 2 consecutive, 2-week phases; ECM alone, and ECM plus unprotected powder enzymes. Fecal fat, energy, and nitrogen output were compared with intake at the end of each phase. Two-tailed, paired t tests were performed to compare outcomes. RESULTS: The mean age of the 14 patients (3 girls) was 5.7 +/- 3.2 years (range, 1.9 to 13.4 years). There was no significant difference in percent malabsorption of fat (15.6% vs 18.2%), energy (13.3% vs 13.4%), or nitrogen (11.8% vs 11.3%) between phases. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of powder enzymes to ECM did not improve nutrient maldigestion compared with ECM alone.     

Organization of microfilaments in astrocytes that form in the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP in cultures, and which are similar to reactive astrocytes in vivo

This paper deals with changes in the arrangement of microfilaments at various stages during the transformation of astroblasts into reactive astrocytes in the presence of dibutyryl 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate in vitro. When cultures of two-week-old mouse astroblasts are treated with dibutyryl cyclic AMP, drastic changes occur in cell shape and in the organization of microfilaments, resulting in cells that closely resemble reactive astrocytes in vivo. A thick, prominent ring of microfilaments in such cells which stains strongly with 7-nitrobenz-2 oxa-1,3-diazole-phallacidin, delineates the perikaryon. Electron microscope examination showed that the ring is composed of many smaller bundles of microfilaments running parallel to each other. Prominent bundles of microfilaments radiate from the cell body into the cell processes. Based on the observation of intermediate forms, we propose that the microfilament ring may be important in the development of cell processes in reactive astrocytes.