Students' and lecturers' perceptions of support in a UK pre-registration midwifery programme

This paper reports on a study that explored the perceptions of students and lecturers regarding support within a pre-registration midwifery programme in one Higher Education Institution in England. A mixed method design was used: questionnaires were completed by first year and third year students and lecturers, complemented by focus groups with each of the three sets of participants. The findings showed that there are multi-focal challenges for student midwives in undertaking their programme of study. The main theme that emerged was of the difficulties involved in maintaining an appropriate work–life balance, especially within what was seen as a relatively inflexible programme structure. The value of peer support was also highlighted as a key factor in helping the students succeed in their studies. There were a number of implications for midwifery educators to consider in optimising support for students. These include ensuring that students have realistic expectations at the outset of their studies, formalising peer support mechanisms and reviewing programmes to provide more flexibility to better underpin the maintenance of an appropriate work–life balance. Further study is warranted to explore perceptions of support in practice and to identify the factors that help students to persevere in their studies.     

Drawing the Yongquan protocol into the different stages of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation sequence

AIM: To introduce new applications into the ILCOR-cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) “chain” sequence.METHODS: Stages of the CPR sequence (“chain”): prior to the application of chest massage: assess the victim’s state of consciousness and lung-heart failure; seek help (call 911), or in situations in which it is impossible to start the ILCOR protocol: (1) if the victim is trapped in car crash, overturned car, landslide, massive number of victims or catastrophe; or (2) delayed CPR. During chest compression: Yongquan is simultane- ously stimulated by a third rescuer. During defibrillator application: activate K-1 Yongquan through needles before defibrillation. Unsuccessful CPR: “gold standard” for legal clinical death.RESULTS: Implies comparing two hypotheses: Ho (null hypothesis) demonstrates no association between the two variables studied; Ha (alternative hypothesis) implies some degree of relation between them. Difference between the two treatments is observed. If it is greater than the standard error multiplied by a coefficient of security, the difference is significant: Ha will be accepted and Ho rejected. First we will compare CPR without defibrillator (method “A”) and K-1 Yongquan method (method “B”), using percentages of representative samples (treatment “A”: 6.4% response, treatment “B”: 85% response). If │PA - PB│ is greater than the product of 1.96 times the standard error, the difference is significant. Because │PA - PB│ = 0.786 is greater than 0.098, the difference between 0.064 and 0.85 is statistically significant. Thus, we reject Ho and accept Ha as correct. Thus, it is improbable that chance was responsible for this association. This analysis shows that K-1 Yongquan method has a “quality guarantee”. Second, we compare defibrillators (“A”) with K-1 Yongquan method (“B”) (treatment “A”: 48%, treatment “B”: 84%, │PA - PB│= 0.36; │PA - PB│ = 0.36 is greater than SE × 1.96 = 0.0148 and also statistically significant, demonstrating again the comparative value of the Yongquan method.CONCLUSION: The Yongquan resuscitation manoeuver is a non-invasive, non-tiring, costless, and easy-to-apply procedure that provides a second chance when other options fail.     

WebDISCO: a web service for distributed cox model learning without patient-level data sharing

Objective The Cox proportional hazards model is a widely used method for analyzing survival data. To achieve sufficient statistical power in a survival analysis, it usually requires a large amount of data. Data sharing across institutions could be a potential workaround for providing this added power.Methods and materials The authors develop a web service for distributed Cox model learning (WebDISCO), which focuses on the proof-of-concept and algorithm development for federated survival analysis. The sensitive patient-level data can be processed locally and only the less-sensitive intermediate statistics are exchanged to build a global Cox model. Mathematical derivation shows that the proposed distributed algorithm is identical to the centralized Cox model.Results The authors evaluated the proposed framework at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Emory, and Duke. The experimental results show that both distributed and centralized models result in near-identical model coefficients with differences in the range 10^?15 to 10^?12. The results confirm the mathematical derivation and show that the implementation of the distributed model can achieve the same results as the centralized implementation.Limitation The proposed method serves as a proof of concept, in which a publicly available dataset was used to evaluate the performance. The authors do not intend to suggest that this method can resolve policy and engineering issues related to the federated use of institutional data, but they should serve as evidence of the technical feasibility of the proposed approach.Conclusions WebDISCO (Web-based Distributed Cox Regression Model; https://webdisco.ucsd-dbmi.org:8443/cox/) provides a proof-of-concept web service that implements a distributed algorithm to conduct distributed survival analysis without sharing patient level data.     

Community reintegration following acquired brain injury

Objective: To evaluate the interventions and strategies used to enable transition from acute care or post-acute rehabilitation to the community following brain injury.

Methods and main outcomes: A systematic review of the literature from 1980-2005 was conducted focusing on ABI rehabilitation. Five major aspects of community reintegration, including: independence and social integration, caregiver burden, satisfaction with quality of life, productivity and return to driving were considered.

Results: With the exception of one, the majority of interventions are supported by only limited evidence, denoting an absence of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the literature. Of 38 studies evaluated for this review, only one RCT was found. That RCT provided moderate evidence that behavioural management, coupled with caregiver education, did not help to improve caregiver burden. Conclusions: Further research, using an interventional approach, is required to advance the evidence base of reintegration into the community following brain injury.     

Troubleshooting adult ECMO

The following scenarios explore some of the common problems encountered during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in adults. In each scenario, the circuit is comprised of a centrifugal pump and a polymethylpentene oxygenator.     

俯卧位面部支架的研制及在玻璃体填充术后患者舒适护理中的应用

目的提高玻璃体填充术后患者的舒适度。方法将90例玻璃体填充术后患者随机分为观察组和对照组各45例。对照组术后胸前及前额各垫一软枕，双上肢自然放于头部两侧。观察组术后胸前垫一软枕，面部采用自行设计的俯卧位面部支架支撑。运用自制量表观察并记录两组患者舒适度的主客观指标。结果观察组俯卧维持时间、俯卧睡眠时间及舒适度自我评价显著优于对照组（均P〈0．01）．术后强迫体位所致的胸闷、胸骨痛、颈肩部酸痛、肢体麻木等不适显著减少（均P〈0．01）。结论俯卧位面部支架能有效提高玻璃体填充术后患者的舒适度，巩固手术疗效。     

Bone marrow stromal cell lines having high potential for osteoclast-supporting activity express PPARγ1 and show high potential for differentiation into adipocytes

Bone marrow stromal cells support osteoclast differentiation by expressing receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL). Although several bone marrow stromal cell lines have been established and characterized, the differentiation stage of the supporting cells for osteoclast differentiation remains unclear. We have established several bone marrow stromal cell lines from transgenic mice harboring the temperature-sensitive SV40 large T antigen. Some of these temperature-sensitive bone marrow stromal cell lines (TSB cell lines) support osteoclast differentiation and differentiate into osteoblasts, suggesting that osteoblast precursor cells support osteoclast differentiation. Here we show that the TSB cell lines that support osteoclast differentiation also expressed peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ1 (PPARγ1) and were able to differentiate into adipocytes. PPARγ1 is an alternatively spliced form of PPARγ that is responsible for the adipocyte differentiation and expressed in the adipocyte precursor cells. Immunofluorescence analysis of TSB cell lines and primary bone marrow stromal cells by use of anti-PPARγ and anti-RANKL antibodies showed that fluorescent signals for RANKL were observed in the cells that expressed PPARγ. Furthermore, activation of adipocyte differentiation by a PPARγ agonist led to decreased RANKL expression. These results demonstrate that PPARγ1-positive precursor cells for osteoblasts and adipocytes expressed RANKL and supported osteoclastogenesis.     

Percutaneous extracorporeal life support for treatment of fatal mechanical complications associated with acute myocardial infarction

Mechanical complications of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), such as free wall rupture, ventricular septal perforation (VSP), and mitral regurgitation due to papillary muscle rupture, are associated with high mortality rates. These complications result in extreme deterioration and increased risk of death in patients who do not receive timely resuscitation and surgical treatment. We studied the effectiveness of percutaneous extracorporeal life support (ECLS) for fatal mechanical AMI complications. Nine patients (7 men and 2 women, mean age 69 +/- 6 years) who suffered circulatory collapse refractory to conventional resuscitation were treated with ECLS. Circulatory collapse was caused by free wall rupture in 4 patients, VSP in 4, and mitral regurgitation due to papillary muscle rupture in 1. All patients were successfully resuscitated by ECLS and underwent surgical repair with conventional cardiopulmonary bypass. Eight patients required ECLS after surgery. Four of the 9 patients (2 with free wall rupture, 1 with VSP, and 1 with papillary muscle rupture) were successfully weaned from ECLS and were discharged. Three of the 4 survivors had no major complications, but the remaining survivor suffered neurological deficit. Four patients died while on devices. The duration of ECLS was from 13 to 167 h (mean 76 +/- 57 h) with a maximum bypass flow of 2.0 to 3.9 L/min (mean 2.9 +/- 0.6 L/min). There were no device-related complications during the support period. Total weaning rate was 56% (5/9), and survival was 44% (4/9). We conclude that ECLS can provide appropriate circulatory support during resuscitation and subsequent postoperative circulatory support for cardiovascular collapse associated with AMI complications.