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.     

Autoantibodies to Serum Proteins in Women with Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion: Subsequent Pregnancy Outcome

Sera from 130 first trimester pregnant women were tested for their serum antibody level against a naturally occurring serum antigen purified from non-pregnancy sera. IgG and IgM antibody level was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbant assay. Results indicate that patients with multiple abortion (n=26) have significantly (p=0.0029) lower level of IgG antibody and significantly (p=0.0001) higher level of IgM antibodies; against the serum antigen as compared to the patients with successful pregnancies with no history of miscarriage (n=63). Western blot analysis identified the scrum antigen recognized by the IgM antibody as a 24 kDa molecular mass component. These IgG and IgM antibodies may play an important role in the outcome of pregnancy.     

Early antenatal sonographic diagnosis of conjoined syncephalus-craniothoraco-omphalopagus twins. Case report.

The paper describes the prenatal ultrasonographic diagnosis of conjoined syncephalus-craniothoraco-omphalopagus twins at 13 weeks' gestation. The mother, after genetic counseling, decided to interrupt the pregnancy. The fetal karyotype, the maternal serum and amniotic fluid alpha-fetoprotein levels were normal. The diagnosis was confirmed by pathologic examination of the fetus after termination of pregnancy.     

C型臂X线机引导下经皮双侧骶髂拉力螺钉固定治疗骶骨H形骨折

目的探讨骶骨H形骨折可行的治疗方法。方法运用C型臂X线机引导下经皮双侧骶髂拉力螺钉固定治疗骶骨H形骨折15例。结果15例患者均获随访，随访时间7—34个月，骨折临床愈合时间3～5个月，术后均未留下明显行走障碍，下蹲等活动接近正常。结论在C型臂X线机精确引导下，经皮双侧骶髂拉力螺钉固定技术能有效地固定骶骨H形骨折中的垂直骨折，纠正骨盆垂直方向移位，操作简洁安全，疗效可靠。     

Influence of age on the mortality from acute pancreatitis

The influence of age on the mortality rate of 268 patients with acute pancreatitis was studied. The hospital mortality rate for patients aged below 50 years was 5.9 per cent. The figure increased to 21.3 per cent in patients aged over 75; the high mortality was accounted for by a higher incidence of deaths related to concomitant medical or surgical diseases in the same hospital admission rather than to complications resulting directly from the pathological process of acute pancreatitis. When only deaths due to complications of acute pancreatitis were analysed, the mortality rate was not significantly different between the young and elderly groups. Moreover, the complication rate and the proportion of patients having severe disease (judged by the number of prognostic signs) were not higher in the elderly. Thus acute pancreatitis was intrinsically not more serious were it not for the presence of concomitant diseases with advanced age.     

Protection of chickens against highly lethal H5N1 and H7N1 avian influenza viruses with a recombinant fowlpox virus co-expressing H5 haemagglutinin and N1 neuraminidase genes

Inactivated whole avian influenza virus (AIV) vaccine provides protection against homologous haemagglutinin (HA) subtype virus, but poor protection against a heterologous HA virus. Moreover, it induces chickens to produce antibodies to cross-reactive antigens, especially nucleoprotein, which is limits AIV serological surveillance. In this study, a recombinant fowlpox virus co-expressing HA (H5 subtype) and NA (N1 subtype) genes of AIV was evaluated for its ability to protect chickens against intramuscular challenge with a lethal dose of highly pathogenic (HP) AIV. Susceptible chickens were also vaccinated by wing-web puncture with the parent fowlpox vaccine virus. Following challenge 4 weeks later with HPAIV, all chickens vaccinated with recombinant virus were protected, while the chickens vaccinated with either the unaltered parent fowlpox vaccine virus or unvaccinated controls experienced 100% mortality following challenge. This protection was accompanied by the high levels of specific antibody to the respective components of the recombinant vaccine. The above results showed that rFPV-HA-NA could be a potential vaccine to replace current inactivated vaccines for preventing AI.