[Lived experiences of night work in nurses: a phenomenological study]

Night work creates widespread and complicated problems for nurses that effect on quality of care, nurses' and clients' health, safety and ability of work force retention. The aim of this study was to discover nature and structure of nursing experiences about night work. This study has been done with phenomenological method. Data were gathered from 9 night work nurses. Sampling was initiated purposeful and continued until data saturation. Data collection has been done by deep and unstructured interviews and data interpretation has been done through Collizi method. Site triangulation, sampling with maximum variance. Member check used for assurance rigor of this study. In this study, three clusters emerged; different nature of night work, out come of night work, coping with night work: struggle with life normalization were found. Night work could effects on health of nurses, safety of patients' and health systems. Efficient management and precise planning of night work is necessary to decrease negative out comes and effective coping of nurses. Therefore, attention to major role of family and manager ins important for nurse's coping

Nature and structure of sources of suffering in family caregivers of hospitalized elderly patients

While elderly people enter the hospital in biological crisis, family caregivers enter the hospital in psychological crisis. But professional caregivers haven't adequate knowledge of family caregivers' experiences. Therefore they forget that family caregivers are in suffering equally. Since suffering is a significant concept in nursing science; and knowing and comprehending sources of suffering in family caregivers by professional caregivers is very important, this study is done to describe the nature and structure of sources of suffering in family caregivers of hospitalized elderly patients. This is a qualitative study with phenomenological method. Population of the research is all elderly patients' families that were hospitalized in one of the hospitals of Isfahan University of medical sciences. Sampling method was purposive and continued until data saturation. The numbers of participants are 12. Data were gathered through in-dept interview and data analysis done by [Parse] method that was not used in Iran. The finding of this research is summarized in these core concepts: Patients and therapeutic interventions as source of suffering, hospital as source of suffering, disturbance in family and social life as source of suffering, self neglect as source of suffering. These concepts will be discussed in the full article. Participants' experiences reflect the need for planning interventions such as developing supportive groups, providing facility and instruments and continuous support for family caregivers during hospital stay. Also results show that educational programs are necessary for effective adaptation in family caregivers

[Human love or professional knowledge?]

Disease or injury affects not only specific structures and physiological or psychological mechanisms but also integrated human functioning. When integrated functioning is seriously affected, the ability of an individual disturbs permanently or transiently for self-care. Vegetative state is one of severe and periodic states of unconsciousness and complete unawareness of self and surrounding environment. The patient loses his self-care ability and requires a complete compensative care system. The aim of this case report was to describe a successful long-term dependent care of a vegetative patient by family members according to Orem's theory. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered by interviewing with care givers, observing nursing care and examining the patient. The case was an Iranian 34-year-old injured man in persistent vegetative state for 17 years after an explosion leading to head injury at war. His immediate care giver was his 58-year-old father with primary education. In physical examination, his integumentary, respiratory, and urinaiy systems were normal. Laboratory tests including blood cell counts, urinalysis, urine culture and electrolytes were also normal. Immobility complications [bedsore, contractures..], malnutrition and infections were not found. This study confirms the healing nature of family care that ensures living by love and hope. According to Orem [2001], love is a positive human emotion that moves people beyond their situations. Benevolence as an active part of a perfect love enables nurses [care givers] to unite with their patients and this helps to realize specific life situations and to struggle to solve them. In critical conditions, the family power dominated by human love should be considered more than before by formal providers of care to empower family role. In addition, with respect to the role of human emotions in providing complete and effective care, developing humanistic attitudes and emotions should be of great concern in nursing education because caring needs not only professional knowledge but also human love, emotions and attitude

[Determination of effective structures of antibodies in binding to DNA using artificial neural networks]

The accumulation of DNA-antibody immune complexes in kidneys is associated with SLE in human and lupus in mice. The level of serum of anti-DNA antibodies is also directly related to the disease severity. Determination of structures that confers DNA specificity in these antibodies can help in designing new therapeutic strategies. In this study, computer simulation and artificial neural network [ANN] has been utilized for the first time to determine effective structure of anti-DNA antibodies in binding to DNA. VH CDR3, FR3 and CDR2 were designated the most effective regions in antibodies that bind to DNA, using an educated neural network. We have also shown that the presence of Arg in position 104, 109 and 113 of CDR3, position 63 and 64 of CDR2 and position 90 of FR3, enhances the DNA specificity of antibodies. A part of our result confirms the previous laboratory works, and the other part introduces novel structures that may be important in DNA binding. This study shows the potency of logic networks in solving medical dilemmas