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Review of Thinking with Literature: Towards a Cognitive Criticism by Terence Cave.
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Transnational Literature, Stories & Life Writing, November 2017
No full textAll prose creative writing from Transnational Literature, November 2017, in one file for ease of printing and downloadin
Experiences of civilian nurses in triage during the Iran-Iraq War: an oral history
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access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Purpose
Nurses played a critical role in performing triage during the Iran-Iraq War. However, their experiences in triage have not been discussed. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the triage experiences of civilian nurses during the Iran-Iraq War.
Methods
Oral history method and in-depth interviews were used to collect data to gain the nurses' experiences in triage.
Results
Four themes were extracted from the data, which were the development of triage, challenging environment to perform triage, development of mobile triage teams, and challenges of triage chemical victims for nurses.
Conclusion
Triage is an important skill for nurses to manage critical situations such as disasters and wars. Nurses have to be competent in performing triage. Involvement in critical situations helps the nurses learn and gain more experience on how to manage unexpected events
The Children of 9/11: 16 Years On
Get PDFPerhaps like many people, I find it hard to believe that 16 years have passed since the terrible events that took place in New York City, Arlington County, and Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001. Most of us can remember where we were when we heard or watched it all unfold—I was up late studying for a Developmental Psychology exam in Adelaide, South Australia—and the shock, disbelief, and heightened alert we all felt months after that tragic day; even, in my case, in as far away a place as Australia.
Psychological studies have shown that memories about 9/11 and other publically-experienced events can be distorted and altered over time. However, few of us would argue against the idea that 9/11 is an indelible part of our collective history, and those ramifications for individuals, families, communities, and the wider world are felt to this day. In this way, I think it must be more than a decade-and-a-half on because the world seems to be a very different place, and so much has happened in that time
The effect of pleasant olfactory mental imagery on the incidence and extent of atelectasis in patients after open heart surgery
Get PDFThis manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (Nov 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyBackground and purpose
Atelectasis is the most common pulmonary complication after open heart surgery. This study was intended to examine the effects of pleasant olfactory mental imagery on postoperative atelectasis in patients undergoing open heart surgery.
Materials and methods
This is a randomized controlled clinical trial. The sample consisted of 80 patients who were randomly assigned to either practice olfactory mental imagery (test group) or receive routine care (control group). A card with the image of roses was given to patients and they were asked to look at the image, visualize the scent of roses in the mind, and then sniff as much as possible, hold their breath for 2 s and eventually exhale slowly through the nose. This procedure was consecutively repeated five times. After a fifteen-minute break, patients proceeded to practice olfactory mental imagery with other fruit images (banana, apple, and lemon). The test group executed the olfactory mental imagery for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon on postoperative days 1 and 2. The control group received the routine ICU care. A questionnaire collected information on sociodemographic characteristics and clinical parameters. Chest radiographs were used to diagnose atelectasis, which were evaluated by the hospital radiologist.
Results
No statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups regarding sociodemographic, medical and surgical information. The incidence of atelectasis in the test group (40%, n = 16) was significantly lower than in the control group (67.5%, n = 27) on postoperative day 2 (p = 0.02).
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that olfactory mental imagery can improve respiratory function and reduce the risk of atelectasis in patients with cardiac surgery
Electron impact ionization of 1-propanol
Get PDF© 2017 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This author accepted manuscript is made available following 24 month embargo from date of publication (Aug 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyExperimental measurements of the cations created in electron impact ionization have been undertaken for the primary isomer of propanol using a Hidden Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (EPIC 300), with a mass resolution of 1 amu. The mass spectra recorded at an incident electron energy of 70 eV reveals the relative probability of forming 50 different cations, by either direct ionization or dissociative ionization. Individual partial ionization cross sections (PICS) for 31 different cations were measured for the first time in this work, for the incident electron energy range from 10 to 100 eV. Also, appearance energies (AEs) and Wannier exponents for the 16 most intense cations formed in electron collisions with 1-propanol are reported. Where possible, those results are compared to those from an earlier investigation. Total Ionization Cross Sections (TICS) were also obtained from the sum of the measured PICS, for nearly all cations measured, and are compared to relevant data reported in the literature. In addition, as a part of this study, theoretical TICS were calculated using the Binary-encounter Bethe (BEB) and independent atom model with screening corrected additivity rule (IAM–SCAR) methods. Good agreement between current measured and calculated TICSs and corresponding earlier results was typically found
Bilirubin concentration is positively associated with haemoglobin concentration and inversely associated with albumin to creatinine ratio among Indigenous Australians: eGFR Study
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (August 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyLow serum bilirubin concentrations are reported to be strongly associated with cardio-metabolic disease, but this relationship has not been reported among Indigenous Australian people who are known to be at high risk for diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Hypothesis: serum bilirubin will be negatively associated with markers of chronic disease, including CKD and anaemia among Indigenous Australians.
Method: A cross-sectional analysis of 594 adult Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (TSI) people in good health or with diabetes and markers of CKD. Measures included urine albumin: creatinine ratio (ACR), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), haemoglobin (Hb) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). Diabetes was defined by medical history, medications or HbA1c ≥ 6.5% or ≥ 48 mmol/mol. Anaemia was defined as Hb < 130 g/L or < 120 g/L in males and females respectively. A multivariate regression analysis examining factors independently associated with log-bilirubin was performed.
Results: Participants mean (SD) age was 45.1 (14.5) years, and included 62.5% females, 71.7% Aboriginal, 41.1% with diabetes, 16.7% with anaemia, 41% with ACR > 3 mg/mmol and 18.2% with eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73m2. Median bilirubin concentration was lower in females than males (6 v 8 μmol/L, p < 0.001) and in Aboriginal than TSI participants (6 v 9.5 μmol/L, p < 0.001). Six factors explained 35% of the variance of log-bilirubin; Hb and cholesterol (both positively related) and ACR, triglycerides, Aboriginal ethnicity and female gender (all inversely related).
Conclusion: Serum bilirubin concentrations were positively associated with Hb and total cholesterol, and inversely associated with ACR. Further research to determine reasons explaining lower bilirubin concentrations among Aboriginal compared with TSI participants are needed
Interventions Targeting the Prescribing and Monitoring of Vancomycin for Hospitalized Patients: A Systematic Review Protocol
Get PDFThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Introduction
Vancomycin remains one of our essential antibiotics after fifty years of treating serious infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Vancomycin, unlike many other antibiotic agents, requires individualized dosing and monitoring of serum drug levels to ensure it is efficacious, to minimize toxicity, and to limit the development of antibiotic resistance. These issues have led to numerous vancomycin clinical practice guidelines being published in recent years including several key national guidelines. Significant resources are invested during the development of such guidelines; however, there is often little or no information about how such guidelines or other vancomycin practice improvement initiatives should be implemented. The aim of this systematic review is to identify and evaluate the effect of interventions using education, guideline implementation, and dissemination of educational resources that have sought to improve therapeutic drug monitoring and dosing of vancomycin.
Methods
A systematic review of the literature will be conducted for RCTs and observational studies where a vancomycin guideline or practice improvement initiative has been implemented. Electronic databases to be searched are PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews. The population will be patients who have had intravenous vancomycin prescribed and monitored in hospital. The interventions will be education, implementation of guidelines or protocols, dissemination of educational materials (printed or electronic) or multifaceted interventions of the above. The comparator will be patients who have had standard-care prescribing and monitoring of vancomycin. Outcomes will be changes in prescribing and ordering of vancomycin serum tests, and serum levels attained in patients as well as reported nephrotoxicity. Two reviewers will be involved in the quality assessment and extraction of data. The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network checklist for RCTs will be used. Studies that are not randomized will be assessed for quality using the validated ROBINS-I (risk of bias in non-randomized studies of interventions) tool.
Discussion
This systematic review will identify interventions that have been used to implement guidelines and clinical practice initiatives for vancomycin. The findings of this review may be informative to those involved with the implementation of vancomycin clinical practice guidelines.
Systematic review registration: PROSPERO: CRD42016049147
Rehabilitation in dementia care
Get PDFThe Accepted Manuscript (AM) is the final draft author manuscript, as accepted for publication by a journal, including modifications based on referees’ suggestions, before it has undergone copyediting, typesetting and proof correction. This is sometimes referred to as the post-print version.
© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected] rehabilitation is increasingly accepted as valuable in the management of chronic disease. Whereas traditional rehabilitation models focussed on recovery, maintaining independence and delaying functional decline are now considered worthwhile aims even where full recovery is not feasible. Despite this, rehabilitation is notably absent from dementia care literature and practice. People with dementia report frustration with the lack of availability of structured post-diagnosis pathways like those offered for other conditions. Alternative terms such as ‘re-ablement’ are used to refer to rehabilitation-like services, but lack an evidence-base to guide care. This commentary will discuss possible reasons for the resistance to accept multidisciplinary rehabilitation as part of dementia care, and identifies the value of doing so for people with dementia, their families, and for health professionals