Retention: An unresolved workforce issue affecting rural occupational therapy services

Failure to retain health professionals in rural areas contributes to the poor health status of these communities through an inability to deliver reliable and consistent services. Considerable attention has been focused on factors affecting recruitment of health professionals. Far less is known about factors affecting the retention of occupational therapists. This was the focus of this study. Ethnographic interviews were used to explore the experiences of 10 occupational therapists who had left rural practice. Six themes emerged from the participants' experiences, from when they first considered rural practice to reflections following their departure from it. These themes were initial appeal, facing the challenge, rural practice issues, the social sphere, reasons for leaving and the value of rural experience. These factors gave rise to a proposed Model of Retention Equilibrium, which suggests that retention can be improved by addressing the imbalance between incentives to leave and incentives to stay. The model provides a useful framework for occupational therapists contemplating rural practice, as well as for health services managers responsible for service delivery in rural areas.     

Hemangioma of the Prostatic Urethra: Hematospermia and Massive Postejaculation Hematuria with Clot Retention

The case of a 53-year-old man with hematospermia and massive postejaculation hematuria that caused urinary retention is described. This is the sixth case in the English and Japanese language literature. Cystourethroscopic examination revealed that a solitary raised tumor was present just distal to the vermontanum, and that bleeding was from its apex. Histologic examination of an excisional biopsy sample showed features compatible with hemangioma.     

Impaired water metabolism and cerebral oedema following experimental subarachnoid haemorrhage in rats1

The acute phase of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is frequently associated with an impaired water metabolism and a disposition to cerebral oedema. For study of the pathogenesis of brain oedema following SAH, an experimental model of SAH was created in the rat The diuretic curves after water loading, the brain water and electrolyte contents and the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid arginine vasopressin (AVP) levels were examined in rats with SAH. Following a water load, a significant water retention and increases in brain water and sodium contents were observed after subarachnoid bleeding. Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid AVP levels were also elevated following SAH. It can be concluded that AVP plays important roles in the development of antidiuresis after water loading and in the disturbance of the brain water and electrolyte balance following experimental SAH.     

BUERGER'S DISEASE IN HONG KONG: A REVIEW OF 89 CASES

Background : A retrospective analysis of 103 case records from 1978 to 1996 with a provisional diagnosis of Buerger's disease was undertaken at the Department of Surgery, University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital. The aim of the study was to elucidate the clinical course and evaluate the results of surgical intervention of Buerger's disease in Hong Kong Chinese people. Methods : Fourteen patients were subsequently excluded from the study because of inability to fulfil our diagnostic criteria. Data on clinical presentation, investigations, indications and results of surgical intervention were reviewed. Sympathectomies and arterial reconstructions were performed on 42 and four patients, respectively, for critical ischaemia or rest pain. Outcome was analysed with respect to the rate of ulcer healing, pattern of recurrence and limb loss. Results : The patients were all young male heavy smokers with a mean age of 36.5 years. The majority of patients (80%) presented with ischaemic ulceration or gangrene. Vascular reconstruction was undertaken in four patients and satisfactory long-term results were obtained in three patients. Sympathectomy was able to relieve symptoms in 87% of operated patients and ischaemic ulceration healed in 2.6 (mean) ± 1.7 (SD) months after the operation. If the patient continued to smoke, surgical intervention did not exempt the patient from a relapse or amputation. Conclusion : Sympathectomy provides short-term pain relief and promotes ulcer healing in patients with Buerger's disease but carries no long-term benefit. Complete abstinence from smoking is the only means of arresting the progression of the disease.     

Rejuvenation in the early 20th century

Summary. The first theoretical reflections concerning the relation of hormone production with the ageing process stemmed from Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard (1817–1894). At the age of 72 years he experimented on himself with an injection of animal testicular extract.
The Viennese physiologist Eugen Steinach (1861–1944) gained world-wide acknowledgement for his theory of 'autoplastic' treatment of ageing. He deduced that after vasoligation, an increased incretory hormonal production would ensue following the cessation of the secretory output of the gonads. The first operation was performed in 1918 and resulted in a vasectomy boom over the next two decades.
The Russian Serge Voronoff (1866–1951), working in Paris, was one of the first to transplant testicular tissue from a monkey into a human reproductive gland in 1920. Five years later he had already performed this procedure on 300 patients and attracted patients from all over the world.
In America early efforts of human testicular transplantation were performed by Frank Lydston and V.D. Lespinasse. Steinach's vasoligation was taken over by many American doctors, e.g., Harry Benjamin and Charles H. Chetwood. Among the patients who underwent a rejuvenation operation according to Steinach's method were Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and the Irish poet and Nobel Prize winner William Butler Yeats (1865–1939). Two caricatures from the German magazine Simplicissimus published in 1927, confirm that the rejuvenation operations were constantly in the limelight of the printed media. From 1935 onwards rejuvenation operations gradually lost their appeal due to the introduction of artificial androgens.     

An Approach to Emergency Department Photography

In the emergency department, photography requires an expedient, portable, adaptable, and relatively simple camera system to take advantage of fleeting opportunities for recording visually educational material. These prerequisites are different from those for traditional medical photography, for which relatively plentiful time and advanced equipment are routinely available. Medical photography departments provide an invaluable service, but are rarely convenient for immediate or spontaneous emergency. department photographs. Although no single system or technique is optimal in all these areas, the authors find certain components and approaches work well. They review photographic equipment, paying attention to speed, ease of use, and quality of output. They also review simple techniques such as film choice, lighting, close-up photography, standardization, copy work, and radiographs. Attention to these details can help the inexperienced photographer obtain a system and begin to enjoy the rewards of effective photography in the emergency department.     

纤维组织粘合剂的实验研究

本文应用“冷沉淀”法制备纤维组织粘合剂。对纤维组织粘合剂中主要成份和含量进行了测定,并测定了主要理化性质,建立了动物实验模型,观察了实验兔对纤维粘合剂的反应。