Is caring the ethical ideal?

This paper will examine the claim that caring is an appropriate ethical ideal for nursing. Initially it will examine nursing's philosophy of care and caring, highlighting some areas of difficulty and dissatisfaction articulated by many of its contemporary theorists Evaluation of the notion of caring as an appropriate ethical ideal for nursing will be balanced against those in opposition, and in this process their critique will be discussed This discussion will focus on areas such as virtue, virtue ethics, moral responsibility, feminine values, mothering and the debate between male and female caring Different forms of caring will be evaluated and balanced against different forms of nursing The paper will then suggest that current views which hold aloft nursing as a bedmate of caring may be detrimental to both the cared-for and the carer, advocating in the process a move toward change     

Vitamin B1, B2 and B6 in relation to anthropometry, hemoglobin and albumin of newborns and their mothers from northeast Thailand

The weight and height measurements of fifty-three mothers and their newborns residing in the northeast of Thailand were recorded. Hemoglobin, albumin and cord blood samples were taken immediately after delivery. The vitamin B1, B2 and B6 status of the women and their newborns was assessed through functional tests. Vitamin B1 and B2 status of the newborns was found to be generally better than those of their mothers. This is not so, however, for vitamin B6. The rate of deficiency in the mothers was highest for vitamin B2 (54.7%). The mothers' height, hemoglobin and albumin concentrations and their vitamin B2 status correlated with those of their children at birth. 50% of low birth weight deliveries (2500 g and below) were included in this study. The risk of a low birth weight delivery cannot, however, be explained by any of the biochemical variables. Although the rate of low birth weight is used commonly to determine mother and child health care, this paper shows that for Hb, albumin, Vitamins B1, B2 and B6, it is not an effective indicator used to determine nutritional deficiencies in mothers.     

Serum alpha-1 antichymotrypsin is a possible growth inhibitor of Plasmodium falciparum

Serum protease inhibitors were determined in paired sera from 7 patients with cerebral malaria and 2 patients with acute malaria showing high and low growth inhibition activity in the initial and follow-up sera respectively. Alpha-1 antichymotrypsin and alpha-1 antitrypsin but not alpha-2 macroglobulin showed direct correlation with the growth inhibition activity. When alpha-1 antitrypsin was deliberately added to the malarial culture no growth inhibition occurred indicating that the alpha-1 antichymotrypsin was the most likely factor responsible for inhibition of growth of malarial parasites in vitro.     

Alterations of human serum proteins and other biochemical parameters after five to ten days of untreated acute falciparum malaria.

Untreated malaria for more than 4 days in eleven patients decreased significantly prealbumin, transferrin levels and increased SGOT activity when compared with a control group and a group of 10 malaria patients who were admitted to the hospital at an earlier stage of the infection. Total protein was significantly lower in the group of patients admitted after five to ten days to hospital compared with the control group. In all malaria patients independent of the duration of the acute infection the 1st post albumin peak in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (consisting mainly of Gc-globulin, alpha-1-antichymotrypsin and alpha-1 B-glycoprotein) and creatinine were found to be significantly higher compared with the control group.     

Are proteinase inhibitors a factor for the derangement of homoeostasis in protein-energy malnutrition?

In protein-energy malnutrition essential amino acids for the synthesis of proteins are derived from the mobilization of endogenous proteins in order to maintain homoeostasis. Data are presented to support the hypothesis that proteinase inhibitors, which increase rapidly at the onset of infection, interrupt this catabolic effect which is the normal adaptive response to protein-energy malnutrition.     

Proteinase inhibitors and other biochemical criteria in infants and primary schoolchildren from urban and rural environments

1. Preschool children and schoolchildren from a rural area in the northeast of Thailand were compared with children from urban areas for prealbumin, albumin, transferrin, alpha 1 B-glucoprotein, the acute-phase reactants alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, haptoglobin and the proteinase inhibitors alpha 1-protease inhibitor (A1PI) as well as alpha 2-microglobulin (alpha 2M). Urinary urea nitrogen:creatinine (U-C) as well as haemoglobin were also determined. Village preschool children were grouped according to their SD score for weight-for-height based on the (US) National Center for Health Statistics (1976) standard into a normal group with SD scores of greater than or equal to --1.99 and an undernourished group with SD scores of less than or equal to --2.00. 2. There was no significant difference between the normal and the undernourished groups of preschool children for any of the factors measured. 3. Haemoglobin and prealbumin concentrations of preschool children were lower in the rural children than in the urban preschool children from Bangkok. 4. In rural schoolchildren haemoglobin was lower but albumin, transferrin, alpha 1B-glycoprotein and haptoglobin were higher than in urban schoolchildren from the provincial town of Khon Kaen. 5. Serum concentrations of the proteinase inhibitors A1PI and alpha 2M were significantly higher in the rural children than in the urban children. 6. U-C values were lower in rural schoolchildren compared with urban schoolchildren.     

Demonstration of extrachromosmal DNA fromBabesia equi merozoites

An extrachromosomal nucleic acid element was detected in high-molecular-weight DNA preparations formBabesia equi merozoites. This extrachromosomal element was shown to be DNA rather than RNA and had an apparent fragment size of about 9 kilobasepairs (kb). Hybridization experiments using purified 9-kb DNA as a probe revealed sequence homologies with extrachromosomal DNA from two otherBabesia species.     

Pyridoxine status in preschool children in northeast Thailand: a community survey

Pyridoxine status was investigated in four hundred and twenty-four village preschool children aged 1-60 months in Khon Kaen, and Nakorn Rachseema, Northeast Thailand using the erythrocyte aspartate aminotransferase (EAST) test and pyridoxal-5-phosphate activation coefficient (AC). Twenty-two percent of the children had pyridoxine deficiency, of which 15 percent had an AC greater than or equal to 3.37 and 7 percent had border-line deficiency (AC between 3.08-3.36). The prevalence of pyridoxine deficiency increased with age from 11 percent in the first year to 31 percent in the age range of 49-60 months.