ABSTRACT
The gene encoding Elongation of Very Long Chain Fatty Acids-4 (ELOVL4) is mutated in patients with autosomal dominant Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy Type 3 (STDG3). ELOVL4 catalyzes the initial condensation step in the elongation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) containing more than 26 carbons (26C) to very long chain PUFA (VLC-PUFA; C28 and greater). To investigate the role of VLC-PUFA in rod photoreceptors, we generated mice with rod-specific deletion of Elovl4 (RcKO). The mosaic deletion of rod-expressed ELOVL4 protein resulted in a 36 % lower amount of VLC-PUFA in the retinal phosphatidylcholine (PC) fraction compared to retinas from wild-type mice. However, this reduction was not sufficient to cause rod dysfunction at 7 months or photoreceptor degeneration at 9 or 15 months.
Subject(s)
Eye Proteins/metabolism , Fatty Acids, Unsaturated/metabolism , Membrane Proteins/metabolism , Phosphatidylcholines/metabolism , Retinal Degeneration/metabolism , Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells/cytology , Retinal Rod Photoreceptor Cells/metabolism , Animals , Electroretinography , Eye Proteins/genetics , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Mice , Mice, Mutant Strains , Mosaicism , Retinal Degeneration/geneticsABSTRACT
This replication of Ott's study [Ott, B. (1986). An Ethical Problem Facing Nurses: The Support of Patient Autonomy in the Do Not Resuscitate Decision. University Microfilms International, Dissertation, Texas Women's University] and McLaughlin et al.'s study [McLaughlin, T., Brown, O. and Herman, J. (1988). Nurses' Perception of the Support of Patient Autonomy in Do Not Resuscitate Situations. Unpublished Research Report] explored hospital staff nurses' perceptions of their role in supporting patient autonomy in the do-not-resuscitate (DNR) decision. One-hundred and sixty-five registered nurses (RNs) participated: 93 from the Veterans Administration Medical Center and 72 from a private non-profit hospital. Ott's questionnaire had four hypothetical cases in which a DNR decision would probably be made with three questions about whose opinion would most support patient autonomy and whose opinion would actually be regarded as the most appropriate for making the DNR decision. Seventy per cent of perceptions of the person whose decision would be best able to support the patient's autonomy in the DNR decision and 51% of the people perceived to actually be deemed most appropriate to make the DNR decision were consistent with Ott's DNR Decision Model.
Subject(s)
Nursing Staff, Hospital/psychology , Patient Advocacy , Personal Autonomy , Resuscitation Orders , Role , Adult , Aged , Attitude of Health Personnel , Consensus , Decision Support Techniques , Ethics Committees, Clinical , Female , Florida , Hospitals, Private , Hospitals, Veterans , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Nursing Methodology Research , Surveys and QuestionnairesSubject(s)
Electrocardiography/standards , Electrodes/standards , Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis , Aged , Diagnosis, Differential , Electrocardiography/instrumentation , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial Infarction/epidemiology , Myocardial Infarction/pathology , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
The problem of skin ulcers in elderly surgical patients in critical care units is a serious one. Patients with skin ulcers suffer from pain, disfigurement, immobility, septicemia, and sometimes death. Critical care nurses can provide preventive techniques by understanding the complex relationship among the variables causing skin ulcers in elderly patients. The authors describe the variables most related to skin ulcers in elderly surgical patients.
Subject(s)
Intensive Care Units , Postoperative Complications/nursing , Pressure Ulcer/nursing , Age Factors , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Female , Florida/epidemiology , Humans , Incidence , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Care Planning , Postoperative Complications/epidemiology , Postoperative Complications/prevention & control , Predictive Value of Tests , Pressure Ulcer/epidemiology , Pressure Ulcer/prevention & control , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of some noninvasive pain reduction interventions on pain in 121 neonates undergoing unanesthetized circumcision. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of six groups: classical music, intrauterine sounds, pacifier, music and pacifier, intrauterine sounds and pacifier, or control (no nurses present and no pain reduction interventions used). Physiological variables that were monitored were heart rate, rhythm, dysrhythmias, blood pressure, transcutaneous oxygen (tcpO2), rate pressure product, and behavioral state, measured during 14 circumcision steps. Over the 14 steps, 42% of the heart rates, 78% of the systolic blood pressures (SBP), 30% of the diastolic blood pressures (DBP), and 81% of the tcpO2 pressures were abnormal. Few significant differences were found among any of the steps. SBP and DBP differed significantly between groups during two of the noninvasive steps; and tcpO2 differed significantly during six steps.
Subject(s)
Circumcision, Male/methods , Infant Care/methods , Pain/prevention & control , Blood Pressure , Heart Rate , Humans , Infant, Newborn , MaleABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To determine the effect of two comfort interventions during unanesthesized circumcision on neonatal pain. METHODOLOGY: Fifty-eight neonates were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups. Eighteen control infants received routine care, 15 infants had music played, and 15 infants had a tape of intrauterine sounds played. During circumcision, monitors measured cardiac rate, rhythm, blood pressure, and transcutaneous oxygen. Pain was measured by analysis of videotaped facial expressions using Izard's Maximally Discriminative Facial Movement Coding System (1983). RESULTS: Mean heart rate was above normal limits during all steps of the circumcision for the control group and during some of the steps for the other two groups. Facial expressions analyzed showed all three groups had pain much more than any other emotion during the procedure. CONCLUSIONS: The two interventions were unable to offset the effects of circumcision pain.
Subject(s)
Circumcision, Male/nursing , Pain/prevention & control , Humans , Infant, Newborn , Male , Music , Pain Measurement , Tape RecordingSubject(s)
Infant, Newborn/physiology , Pain/physiopathology , Circumcision, Male , Humans , Male , Pain ManagementSubject(s)
Patient Advocacy , Physician-Patient Relations , Adult , Female , Human Experimentation , Humans , Informed Consent , Labor, Induced , PregnancyABSTRACT
An analysis of data from medical records of 500 patients discharged from an acute care hospital in 1983 found seven of ten variables studied to be significantly related to length of stay. The results of this correlational study can lead to experimental research to determine the effects of nursing care on length of stay, which greatly affects hospitals' financial survival.
