Attitudes towards mental illness: testing the contact hypothesis among Chinese student nurses in Hong Kong

This study investigated whether previous contact with mental illness affected the attitudes to mental illness (AMI) of general student nurses in Hong Kong — the contact hypothesis. We employed a quasi-experimental design. We compared the attitudes to mental illness of students who had previous contact with mental illness through having taken a psychiatric secondment with those who had not taken a psychiatric secondment. Also, we compared the AMI of: students who had taken other courses related to mental illness with those who had not; those who had a family history of mental illness with those who had not; and those who lived with a mentally ill relative with those who did not. We found that previous contact with mental illness had no significant effect on the attitudes to mental illness of the students. In other words our findings do not support the contact hypothesis. Our sample expressed positive general attitudes to mental illness when presented with general issues about mental illness. However, their attitudes were less positive when presented with specific issues about mental illness that might impinge upon their daily lives. We discuss the implications of these findings for mental health nursing practice, education and research.     

Intravenous feeding with medium chain triglycerides. Effect on blood gases and the complement system in critically ill patients

Critically ill patients are usually in a catabolic state and may require total parenteral nutrition; this often includes lipid emulsions. Any adverse effects of constituents on pulmonary function, white cell function or the haemocoagulation system could have disastrous consequences in such patients. We have investigated the effects of a new intravenous lipid preparation containing medium chain triglycerides, which, in severely ill malnourished patients are theoretically a preferable energy source to conventional drug chain triglycerides. In a pilot study 17 critically ill patients whose lungs were artificially ventilated were given this lipid emulsion; no adverse effects were observed. Arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions, ratio of inspired oxygen fractional concentration to arterial oxygen tension, platelet and white cell counts all remained constant and the complement system was not activated.     

Noninvasive Estimation of Blood Alcohol Concentrations: Ethanol Vapor Above the Eye

The present study describes, in animals, a novel approach to the in vivo, noninvasive determination of alcohol in the body. The concentration of ethanol in vapor above the lacrimal fluid in the eye was analyzed in situ by the use of a fast (1-min) gas sensor method developed previously for biological liquids. After an oral dose of 1 g/kg to 11 animals, eye vapor measurements and blood samples were obtained over 4 hr. The correlation of 61 blood ethanol concentrations obtained by the two methods yielded a correlation coefficient of 0.92 and a slope of 0.99. The metabolic rates of ethanol determined by gas chromatographic analysis of blood and by ethanol eye vapor analysis are virtually identical. The data suggest that ethanol eye vapor analysis may be an attractive, noninvasive method for the determination of ethanol in animals. The method is not subject to false high readings due to alcohol in the buccal cavity and thus might constitute an alternative to breath analysis in the human. In a separate series, ethanol was determined by head space gas chromatography in samples of blood and lacrimal fluid while the animals were under ketamine anesthesia. The correlation of ethanol concentrations in blood and lacrimal fluid (r = 0.99) shows that ethanol is distributed in lacrimal fluid which comprises part of total body water.     

Relationship between pregnancy outcomes and maternal vitamin D and calcium intake: A cross-sectional study.

Poor maternal vitamin D status affects fetal and infant skeletal growth. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between newborn outcomes and maternal calcium and vitamin D intakes. Four hundred and forty-nine pregnant women, healthy at the point of delivery, and their newborns were enrolled in the study, which was performed in three university hospitals in Tehran in March 2004. Maternal anthropometric data and energy, protein, calcium and vitamin D intakes were collected, and newborn outcomes (weight, length, head circumference and 1-min Apgar score) were determined. Almost two-thirds of the mothers (64.3%) took no supplements during pregnancy. Only one-third of the mothers (33.8%) had adequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D (from supplements and foods) compared with the Recommended Dietary Allowances. Mean length at birth and 1-min Apgar score were higher in newborns whose mothers had adequate calcium and vitamin D intake than in newborns whose mothers had inadequate intake (p = 0.03 and p = 0.04, respectively). Significant correlations were found between adequate maternal calcium and vitamin D intake and both appropriate birth weight and 1-min Apgar score of newborns and weight gain of mothers during pregnancy. Informing mothers of the critical importance of consuming adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D seems necessary.     

Gender differences in informal caring

Men have hitherto largely been invisible in research on informal care. This paper examines gender differences in informal caring, focusing on gender differences according to the relationship between the carer and care-recipient and the location of caring. The paper uses secondary analysis of the 1990–91 General Household Survey, which identified over 2700 adults as informal carers. Four per cent of men and women provide care for someone living in the same household. More women than men, 13% compared with 10%, provide care for someone living in another household. Men carers are less involved in care provision than women, providing fewer hours of care each week, and are less likely to be the main carer. However, gender differences are most marked among married carers, apart from those caring for their spouse, and least among unmarried carers. Married men can often rely on their wives to perform caring roles rather than performing them personally. Women carers are more likely to provide personal care than men carers, but the gender difference is least among those caring for their spouse or for disabled children. Cross-sex personal care is performed within the marital relationship and by parents caring for disabled children, but seldom by adult children caring for their parents or in more distant caring relationships. Evidence of cross-sex taboos in giving personal care is largely restricted to care provided in another household. Since the majority of elderly people in need of care are women, such cultural taboos may reinforce the pressure on mid-life women to care for mothers and mothers-in-law.