Behavioral and neurophysiological taste responses to sweet and salt are diminished in a model of subclinical intestinal inflammation.

There is strong evidence for gut-taste bud interactions that influence taste function, behavior and feeding. However, the effect of gut inflammation on this axis is unknown despite reports of taste changes in gastrointestinal (GI) inflammatory conditions. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an inflammatory stimulus derived from gram-negative bacteria, is present in the normal GI tract and levels increase during high-fat feeding and gut infection and inflammation. Recordings from the chorda tympani nerve (CT), which transmits taste information from taste buds on the anterior tongue to the brain, previously revealed a transient decrease in sucrose responses in mice that ingest LPS during a single overnight period. Here we test the effect of acute or chronic, weekly LPS gavage on licking behavior and CT responses. Using brief-access testing, rats treated with acute LPS and mice receiving acute or chronic LPS decreased licking responses to sucrose and saccharin and to NaCl in mice. In long-term (23 h) tests chronic LPS also reduced licking responses to saccharin, sucrose, and NaCl in mice. Neurophysiological recordings from the CT supported behavioral changes, demonstrating reduced responses to sucrose, saccharin, acesulfame potassium, glucose and NaCl in acute and chronic LPS groups compared to controls. Chronic LPS significantly elevated neutrophils in the small intestine and colon, but LPS was not detected in serum and mice did not display sickness behavior or lose weight. These results indicate that sweet and salt taste sensitivity could be reduced even in asymptomatic or mild localized gut inflammatory conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease.

Partnering to Educate Nurses in Long-Term Care.

Despite a 2008 national call to retool a health care workforce for an aging America, the geriatrics-trained workforce is declining while the U.S. population continues to age. Formalized academic-practice partnerships between long-term care facilities and schools of nursing are one response to strengthening the work-force caring for older adults. This article details the activities of an intentional, synergistic, 3-year partnership between National HealthCare Corporation (NHC) and University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing. The partnership focused on providing continuing education and leadership development for NHC nurses while also providing nursing faculty with access to clinicians and patients in long-term care for the purposes of education, research, and quality improvement. The ultimate goal for both partners was improved patient outcomes. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2020;51(2):75-81.].

The role of local anaesthetics in premature ejaculation.

UNLABELLED: What's known on the subject? and What does the study add? It is now accepted that both biological and psychological factors are important in the aetiology of premature ejaculation (PE). Of particular interest is the correlation between ejaculatory latency and penile sensory thresholds. Men with PE appear to have a heightened sensory response to penile stimulation and also generally exhibit other abnormal reflex pathways within the ejaculatory process, suggesting a link between penile hypersensitivity and PE. Considering these sensory differences, drugs that selectively produce some degree of penile desensitization or act within the afferent-efferent reflex could delay ejaculatory latency without adversely affecting the sensation of ejaculation. This review evaluates published clinical trial data for local anaesthetics used off-label in PE as well as novel topical agents in development. New analyses of the phase III data are presented for topical eutectic mixture for PE (TEMPE, also known as PSD502, Plethora Solutions Plc., London), a proprietary formulation of lidocaine and prilocaine in a metered-dose aerosol delivery system. OBJECTIVES: • To review the published clinical trial data for local anaesthetics used off-label in premature ejaculation (PE), as well as novel topical agents in development. • To evaluate the safety and efficacy of topical eutectic mixture for PE (TEMPE) in subjects with PE and their sexual partners using all available phase III data. RESULTS: • Topical treatments can be applied as needed and systemic side-effects are unlikely. However, existing off-label topical treatments for PE have several disadvantages: they can be messy, interfere with spontaneity, and could cause numbness in the man or his partner. • Several novel topical agents are in development for the treatment of PE. TEMPE appears to be closest to approval. • TEMPE, applied 5 min before sexual intercourse (539 subjects) resulted in an increase in the geometric mean intra-vaginal ejaculatory time (IELT) from a baseline of 0.58 min to 3.17 min during 3 months of double-blind treatment; a 3.3-fold delay in ejaculation compared with placebo (P < 0.001). • IELT continued to increase further with continued use of TEMPE throughout the double-blind and open-label phases. • Treatment with TEMPE also resulted in marked improvements in subjective measures, e.g. ejaculatory control, sexual satisfaction and distress, with little or no evidence of systemic side-effects and minimal desensitization of the genitalia in subjects or their sexual partners. CONCLUSIONS: • The use of a topical agent could be an acceptable first-line option for PE, given the favourable risk/benefit ratio of these products. • Topical aerosol application of TEMPE may provide safe, effective, on-demand treatment for PE.

Mind mapping in qualitative research.

BACKGROUND: We tested a theory that mind mapping could be used as a tool in qualitative research to transcribe and analyse an interview. METHOD: We compared results derived from mind mapping with those from interpretive phenomenological analysis by examining patients' and carers' perceptions of a new nurse-led service. RESULTS: Mind mapping could be used to rapidly analyse simple qualitative audio-recorded interviews. CONCLUSION: More research is needed to establish the extent to which mind mapping can assist qualitative researchers.