Gender Differences in the Psychosocial Functioning of Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected family life, increasing parental stress around health, job losses, reduced salaries, and maintaining domestic life in lockdown and social isolation. The transition to home-schooling and remote work with school and workplace closures caused additional stressors as families began living, working, and educating in one place. This research aims to understand the relationship between the pandemic and parental stress, focusing on family well-being and established characteristics of the family unit that may cause some family members to experience the adverse consequences of the pandemic in more or less profound ways, especially mothers. Previous research shows that mothers carry more family responsibilities than fathers and can experience higher stress levels. This study employed a quantitative cross-sectional online survey to extend our understanding of the interaction between home-schooling, work and home life, and stress levels in a group of 364 parents. In total, 232 mothers and 132 fathers completed the survey. Results revealed mothers were 10 times more likely to be responsible for home-schooling than fathers, and 44% of mothers felt they had no help with home-schooling and were generally more stressed than fathers. These results show that lack of support, managing home-schooling, and being a mother predicted increased stress. 10% of mothers reported leaving their jobs due to pressure added by home-schooling. This study broadens the understanding of the pandemic's impact on gender imbalances in family responsibilities. It emphasises the need for extra consideration for the impact on mothers as we emerge from this pandemic.

Aging as a Productive Process: A Critical Analysis of Aging Policy in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

There has been a growing focus on healthy aging in the political agenda. Discourses contained within policy documents have the potential to shape our notions of healthy aging and well-being. This comprehensive critical document analysis of provincial aging policies in Newfoundland and Labrador (2006-2015) contributes to a larger research study exploring aging women's notions of health and the body in relation to the aging process. The findings highlight how healthy aging discourses focus on the concept of productivity and how a certain type of health is required for ongoing contribution. The paper concludes by arguing that if healthy aging is framed around one's ability to remain productive, notions of health will remain limited to an externalized measure of output versus subjective experience of well-being.

Folie du système? Preventing Violence Against Nurses in In-patient Psychiatry.

Violence against psychiatric nurses is a difficult reality of work on in-patient psychiatry units. Health care providers and managers, nursing unions, and workplace protection agencies are looking for solutions to improve safety and quality of care. We are suggesting that simultaneous to this solution-seeking, there is also a need to critically reflect on the nature of violence itself within in-patient psychiatric settings. In this article we consider the gendered dynamics of power and violence within the in-patient psychiatric setting. The nursing profession is over 90% female. Given that violence in society often has a 'gendered' nature, and in light of a report from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions which likened violence against nurses to domestic violence, we have put forth a view of the acute in-patient psychiatric milieu that considers gender and power in its analysis of violence against nurses. Intended to encourage enquiry into our pre-suppositions as health care providers, we use Foucauldian and feminist theories to up-end our notions of "anti-violence technologies", and to consider the unique and risky position that psychiatric nurses occupy as carers, care providers, and "anti-violence officers". We conclude by posing ethical questions which may be of interest for professional development, care planning, team building, and clinical ethics and education.

Heparin-gold nanoparticles for enhanced microdialysis sampling.

Cerebral microdialysis is a sampling technique which offers much potential for understanding inflammatory pathophysiology following traumatic brain injury (TBI). At present, the recovery of cytokines via microdialysis in clinical studies is not straightforward primarily due to their size, steric properties and low concentrations. Heparin and heparin-coated microspheres have previously shown promise as cytokine-binding agents for enhanced microdialysis sampling in animal models (Duo and Stenken in Anal Bioanal Chem 399(2):773-82, 2011; Anal Bioanal Chem 399(2):783-93, 2011). However, there are several factors limiting application for microdialysis in patients. The aim of this study was to produce heparin-coated gold nanoparticles as cytokine capture agents for enhanced microdialysis sampling, potentially applicable to a clinical setting. Gold nanoparticles (AuNP) were chemically conjugated to heparin via a bifunctional polyethylene glycol (PEG) linker. The heparin-AuNP (AuNP-Hep) were characterised, demonstrating the successful addition of heparin to the gold surface. The performance of the AuNP-Hep during in vitro testing was compared both to current methodology (Helmy et al. in J Neurotrauma 26(4):549-61, 2009) and to the heparin-coated microspheres developed by Duo and Stenken (Anal Bioanal Chem 399(2):773-82, 2011; Anal Bioanal Chem 399(2):783-93, 2011). The AuNP-Hep yielded a higher recovery of cytokines compared to current methodology and heparin-coated microspheres, during in vitro testing designed to mimic the human environment and the intensive care unit. In this study, AuNP-Hep were developed for enhanced microdialysis sampling of cytokines, potentially applicable in a clinical setting. Based on the success of the AuNP-Hep in vitro, the proposed method offers an alternative to the use of current protocols that rely on a blood product (albumin) for microdialysis sampling of cytokines in patients.

Safety evaluation of an alpha-amylase enzyme preparation derived from the archaeal order Thermococcales as expressed in Pseudomonas fluorescens biovar I.

BD5088 alpha-amylase derived from archaeal sources has characteristics of pH and temperature tolerance that are well suited to hydrolysis of starch in food processing applications. The production microorganism recipient strain, Pseudomonas fluorescens biovar I, strain MB101, was avirulent after oral administration to mice and does not represent an infectious threat to humans. Repeated dose gavage studies with BD5088 enzyme preparation, up to 13 weeks in duration, showed no systemic toxicity due to the oral route with an NOAEL of 890 mg/kg/day as Total Organic Solids. Some irritation occurred in the respiratory tract, which was considered to be a consequence of reflux and aspiration of test material that contained lipopolysaccharide from the Pseudomonas production strain. A 2-week dietary study (0 and 310 mg/kg/day) confirmed that there were no respiratory tract effects related to oral ingestion. There was no genotoxic activity based on Ames, mouse lymphoma, mouse micronucleus, and rat lymphocyte chromosomal aberration tests. There was no evidence of allergenic potential based on a comparison of the primary sequence of BD5088 with sequences in an allergen database. The enzyme was labile to pepsin digestion. Based on these data, BD5088 alpha-amylase preparation may be considered safe for use in food production such as corn wet milling.