The relationship between maternal needs and priorities in a neonatal intensive care environment

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the nature and organization of maternal needs and priorities in a neonatal unit. BACKGROUND: The relationship between maternal needs and priorities appears to be an under studied area in neonatal nursing. METHODS: A quantitative survey was carried out based on 209 mothers with premature infants. Two self-assessment schedules were used: critical care maternal needs inventory (J. Leske, Heart and Lung 15, 27-42) and a ranking scale. The data were analysed with multivariate analysis. FINDINGS: Data analysis revealed clear priorities in maternal needs. In particular the need for accurate infant related information was a priority for 93% of the mothers. Good communication practices with professionals were also valued. The mothers displayed altruistic behaviour, and self-related needs took second place. It is proposed that maternal needs demonstrate a hierarchical organization. CONCLUSION: It is important for nurses to consider the individual needs of the mothers, simply because the satisfaction of these needs is essential for maternal well-being.     

Influence of acetylcholine on neuronal activity of monkey amygdala during bar press feeding behavior

Single neuron activity in the monkey amygdala was investigated during cue signalled conditioned bar press feeding behavior and the effects of electrophoretically applied acetylcholine (ACh) and atropine were analyzed. ACh increased the firing rate of one third of the neurons tested; these excitatory responses were inhibited by the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine. No characteristic location of ACh-sensitive neurons was found, cells were diffusely distributed throughout the amygdala. Activity of ACh-sensitive neurons did not correlate with any particular event during the bar press feeding task. However, continuous application of ACh at low current intensity during the task significantly enhanced the task-related excitatory firing patterns, or markedly attenuated the inhibitory responses. Continuous application of atropine elicited or enhanced inhibitory response patterns. These results suggest that the cholinergic system of the monkey amygdala facilitates neuronal excitation but attenuates inhibition related to various phases of feeding behavior, such as to cue recognition, food aquisition and rewarding process.     

Does work with visual display units impair visual activities after work?

It is well established that visual display unit (VDU) operators complain of visual fatigue and visual stress during after-work hours. The present study was divided into two parts. In the first part, standard eye examinations were performed on a group of VDU workers (n = 32) and a control group (n = 15); those subjects who were found to have correct vision (n = 16 and 13, respectively) participated in the second part. The eye examinations revealed that on the average, the VDU workers suffered more than twice as many visual impairments as the controls. In those with correct vision, the near point of accommodation was measured at the beginning of the workday at the start of the week, and at the end of the workday, four days later. In the VDU group, the decrease in accommodation was uniformally distributed between zero and 1.0 diopter, whereas among the non-VDU workers, 77% of the decrease was between zero and 0.25 diopter. The dynamic range of accommodation in the VDU workers on the second examination was smaller than on the first. We conclude that some of the visual stress and visual fatigue that developed at work hindered visual activities after work.     

Is Health Inequality Across Individuals of Moral Concern?

The history of the documentation of health inequality is long. The way in which health inequality has customarily been documented is by comparing differences in the average health across groups, for example, by sex or gender, income, education, occupation, or geographic region. In the controversial World Health Report 2000, researchers at the World Health Organization criticized this traditional practice and proposed to measure health inequality across individuals irrespective of individuals’ group affiliation. They defended its proposal on the moral grounds without clear explanation. In this paper I ask: is health inequality across individuals of moral concern, and, if so, why? Clarification of these questions is crucial for meaningful interpretation of health inequality measured across individuals. Only if there was something morally problematic in health inequality across individuals, its reduction would be good news. Specifically, in this paper I provide three arguments for the moral significance of health inequality across individuals: (a) health is special, (b) health equity plays an important and unique role in the general pursuit of justice, and (c) health inequality is an indicator of general injustice in society. I then discuss three key questions to examine the validity of these arguments: (i) how special is health?, (ii) how good is health as an indicator?, and (iii) what do we mean by injustice? I conclude that health inequality across individuals is of moral interest with the arguments (b) and (c).     

东莨菪碱对大鼠体感区皮层神经元单位放电的影响

目的观察东莨菪碱对大鼠体感区皮层自发放电和诱发放电的影响。方法用玻璃微电极在大鼠体感区皮层记录神经元单位放电。结果实验记录了３５个单位放电，其中对触压后肢应答放电的有２２个，前肢９个；触前肢兴奋，后肢抑制的１个；触前肢抑制，后肢兴奋的１个；触毛及皮肤呈汇聚反应的２个。静注东莨菪碱后有２３个呈增频反应，１２个为减频反应。增频单位多分布在Ⅰ～Ⅳ层，减频单位则在Ⅴ～Ⅵ层。结论东莨菪碱对皮层体感区Ａｃｈ兴奋神经元或Ａｃｈ抑制神经元均有阻断作用。     

Cytogenetic characterization of ten cases of Ph1-positive acute myelogenous leukemia

Chromosome banding analyses were made on 10 cases of Ph1-positive AML (7 M1 and 3 M2). The standard type Ph1 translocation, t(9q +;22q -), was identified in all of them. Karyotypically normal cells were observed in 6-65% of bone marrow metaphases at the initial cytogenetic examination of 7 patients, whereas the remaining 3 patients had only Ph1-positive cells at diagnosis. Follow-up studies performed in 5 cases indicated that the frequency of karyotypically normal cells increased up to 81-100% when the patients were in remission, whereas it was much reduced in relapse. In 5 cases, there was observed a clone of cells in which the Ph1 translocation was the sole karyotypic abnormality. Various types of other chromosome abnormalities, in addition to the Ph1, were observed in all cases, among which-7 was the most frequent, being found in three cases as a stem line. Other additional changes encountered were + Ph1, del(5), i(17q), - 10, + 18, + X, and various numerical and structural changes including certain secondary translocations that occurred in the Ph1 (22q -) or its partner (9q +). The types and frequencies of these additional changes appeared to be different from those found in the acute phase of CML or in Ph1-positive ALL.     

Spontaneous activity of single neurons in the olfactory bulb of the rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) and its modulation by olfactory stimulation with amino acids

Summary Spontaneous action potentials recorded from 126 neurons in the olfactory bulb of Salmo gairdneri show a higher tendency towards bursting patterns of activity than those shown in previous reports about other fish. Granule cells and periglomerular cells are more likely to fire in bursts than mitral cells. Natural chemical stimulation of the olfactory mucosa with amino acid solutions produced a unique pattern of excitatory and inhibitory responses across all units. Chi-square values were calculated for stimulatory effectiveness between forty-five pairs of odours. L-serine and L-alanine consistently showed a high degree of similarity with several other odours. The converse was true for GABA and L-histidine, although this pair had a high chi-square value when mutually compared. Enantiomeric pairs of amino acids were often found to have opposite stimulatory effects on bulbar units. These results are discussed in relation to the possible properties and configurations of odorant receptor sites for amino acids in the fish olfactory mucosa.     

Ear and eye representation in the frontal cortex,area 8b,of the macaque monkey: an electrophysiological study

We evoked both ear and eye movements in area 8b, the rostral area of frontal cortex, in two monkeys. In some sites it was possible to evoke only ear movements or only eye movements; in other locations we evoked both ear and eye movements by varying the intensity of electrical stimulation. The electrically evoked ear movements were forward, or backward, or oblique (upward-forward; upward-backward). In two penetrations the ear movements were bilateral, in the other penetrations they were contralateral. Ipsilateral ear movements were not observed. The evoked eye movements were mainly fixed-vector saccades, contralateral and with an upward orientation of about 45°. If we considered only the sites where the threshold was equal to or lower than 50 A, the stimulation of this area evoked mainly ear movements. In addition we recorded the electrical activity of 195 neurons. Of these neurons: 74% (145/195) discharged before ear movements (ear cells); 20% (40/195) discharged before ear and eye movements (ear-eye cells); 5% (10/195) discharged only before eye movements (eye cells). Ninety-one percent (132/145) of ear cells presented a preferred direction; 90% (36/40) of ear-eye cells presented a preferred direction for ear movements, and 15% (6/40) presented a preferred direction for eye movements. Eighty-five percent (34/40) of cells did not present a preferred direction for visually guided saccades and were active when the monkey made saccades toward the unlit targets (checking saccades). Our results show that a field of area 8b is related to ear movements and to eye-ear movements. The findings that it is possible to obtain both ear and eye movements with low-intensity currents and that there are cells firing for the two types of movements suggest that area 8b may be involved in the orientation and coordination of both ear and eye. This area might be considered a rostral extension of supplementary eye field (SEF) or a different region. However, based on its distinct functional characteristics and connectivity, it is probably better regarded as a separate field. Regardless, the combination of 8b and SEF may constitute a cortical center for orienting processes.     

Specific staining of the axon membrane at nodes of Ranvier with ferric ion and ferrocyanide

Ferric ion and ferrocyanide were used as stains for light and electron microscopy of peripheral nerves. In rat sciatic nerves, it was found that ferric ion preferentially binds to the cytoplasmic surface of the axon membrane at nodes of Ranvier but not at internodal regions. In myelinated axons in the electric organ of the gymnotid fish, Sternarchus albifrons, the small excitable nodes are similarly stained, but the larger inexcitable nodes are not stained by ferric ion. Staining of the inner surface of the nodal membrane appears to be related to a structural specialization of this membrane, rather than accessibility to stain. Our data thus show a chemical differentiation of the inner surface of the axon membrane between nodes and internodes in normal peripheral nerve fibers and between the inner surface of the axon membrane at active nodes, inactive nodes, and the internodes in the Sternarchus electrocyte axons.