‘When you visit a man you should prepare yourself’: male community care worker approaches to working with men living with HIV in Cape Town,South Africa

Caring is typically constructed as a feminised practice, resulting in women shouldering the burden of care-related work. Health-seeking behaviours are also constructed as feminine and men have poorer health outcomes globally. Employing men as carers may not only improve the health of the men they assist but also be transformative with regards to gendered constructions of caring. Using semi-structured interviews and observational home visits, this study explored the techniques that community care workers employ when working with male clients. The empirical analysis draws on the perspectives of eight care workers and three of their male clients from the Cape Town area. Interviews reveal how care workers and clients perform and negotiate masculinities as they navigate hegemonic masculine norms that require men to act tough, suppress emotions and deny weakness and sickness. Both parties bump up against ideals of what it means to be a man as they strive to provide care and receive support. Community care workers avoid rupturing client performances of hegemonic masculinities which inhibit confession and support. To do this, they use techniques of indirectly broaching sensitive subjects, acting in a friendly way and being clear about the intention of their work.     

工作坊模式在护生压疮护理带教中的应用效果分析

目的探讨工作坊模式在护生压疮护理带教中的应用效果,为临床护理带教提供参考。方法选取2018年7月—2019年6月在医院实习的120名护生作为研究对象,随机分为对照组和观察组,各60名护生。对照组采用传统带教法进行压疮培训,观察组采用工作坊教学模式进行培训。培训结束后比较两组护生压疮知识的掌握程度即理论考核、技能操作成绩,教学效果满意度。结果观察组护生对压疮知识的掌握程度即理论考核成绩、技能操作考核成绩远远高于对照组,两组差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。95%的观察组护生对工作坊教学模式的效果表示满意,认为工作坊教学模式能够提高学习的兴趣、主动性和临床实践能力,对临床工作有很大帮助。结论工作坊教学模式应用于压疮护理的临床带教,能让护生亲身体验压疮护理的过程,并参与其中,将理论与实践相结合,更好地活跃课堂气氛,启发护生思考,提高护生对压疮理论和技能的掌握,为临床实际工作中压疮护理质量的提高奠定基础。     

‘Sex’ – it’s not only women’s work: a case for refocusing on the functional role that sex plays in work for both women and men

Mention of the term sex work often invokes images of marginalized women at risk for HIV infection. Such images, however, are counterintuitive to the functional role intended by the movement that spawned use of the terms ‘sex work’ and ‘sex worker.’ This article looks at the sexual practices of men in urban China to argue for a return to a functional definition of ‘sex work’, which was originally meant to legitimize the role sex plays in work. The progenitors of this movement intended to use ‘sex work’ as a means to legitimize sex as an income-generating activity for women involved in prostitution. I show that sex can also serve a functional role in the work-related duties of men seeking economic and political success in contemporary urban China. Men in China utilize sex as one way for demonstrating the loyalty necessary to access state-owned and controlled resources in a market economy governed under a Leninist system. Overall, the article demonstrates that reclaiming perception of sex work as a functional rather than behavioral category can expand its use for preventing HIV among the broad subset of people who engage in sex as part of their work.     

Recipient hypertonic saline infusion prevents cardiac allograft dysfunction

Objective

Hypertonic saline (HTS) has potent immune and vascular effects. We assessed recipient pretreatment with HTS on allograft function in a porcine model of heart transplantation and hypothesized that HTS infusion would limit endothelial and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction following transplantation.

高通量血液透析和低通量血液透析不同模式对老年维持性血液透析患者血压的影响

目的 观察高通量血液透析(HFHD)与低通量血液透析(LFHD)的不同模式运用到老年患者维持性血液透析(MHD)中对其血压的影响。方法 选择2015年2月—2017年10月本院治疗的MHD老年患者74例,先为其施LFHD 3个月,再为其辅以3个月的HFHD,3次/周,4 h/次,对比不同透析模式对患者血压的影响。结果 实施HFHD后患者的平均动脉压(MAP)有所降低,在第3 h与第4 h透析后,血压把控优于LFHD(P<0.05)。结论 对于MHD老年患者来说,实施HFHD是优良的透析方法。     

Haemodynamic profiles of etomidate vs propofol for induction of anaesthesia: a randomised controlled trial in patients undergoing cardiac surgery

Background

Etomidate is frequently selected over propofol for induction of anaesthesia because of a putatively favourable haemodynamic profile, but data confirming this perception are limited.

Investigating the association between eye colour and the Neurological Pupil index

IntroductionBrown or dark brown eyes make it difficult to distinguish the contrast between a black pupil and the surrounding iris, which may result in clinical assessment errors. The pupillometer can be used to derive an indexed value, the Neurological Pupil index™ (NPi) for pupillary light reflex. However, there are limited data associating the NPi and iris colour. We examine the NPi and eye colour association.MethodsData were pooled from the Establishing Normative Data for Pupillometer Assessments in Neuroscience Intensive Care (END-PANIC) Registry. The analysis includes 14,168 observations collected from 865 patients with neurological conditions who were admitted to the intensive care unit. Summary statistics and statistical models were developed to examine the association using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) summary procedure.ResultsThe mean age of the cohort was 56 years (standard deviation = 17). Eye colour included dark brown (n = 339), blue (n = 234), brown (n = 173), green (n = 82), and other (n = 37). There was significant differences (p < 0.0001) between mean NPi values by eye colour [blue = 4.08 (0.92), brown = 3.34 (1.45), dark = 3.71 (1.33), green = 4.08 (0.67), other = 3.76 (1.25)]. However, a further random-effects mixed model after controlling for confounding variables revealed no significant difference in NPi values among different eye colour groups.ConclusionsThe pupillary light reflex, when assessed using the pupillometer, is not dependent on the eye colour. Practitioners are not required to consider eye colour as a confounder when they perform pupillary assessment for examining patients with neurological conditions.