A mounting medium for use in Indoor Air Quality spore-trap analyses.

A modified mounting medium, Lacto-Cotton Blue, is described and evaluated for use with Indoor Air Quality spore-trap samples. The medium lacks phenol and is odorless, provides excellent rehydration, delicate staining, and is easy to apply.

AANA Journal course: transient neurologic symptoms and spinal anesthesia.

A universal goal of anesthesia providers is to provide the safest, most effective anesthesia and analgesia for their patients. When reports emerge showing problems or complications with an agent or technique that previously was thought safe, recommendations often are adopted in anesthesia departments to avoid or abandon the agent or technique, or alternatives are sought. Hyperbaric 5% lidocaine has been an effective and safe spinal anesthetic agent for short procedures for years. During the past decade, controversy arose over its use because it was implicated as the cause of transient neurologic symptoms and cauda equina syndrome. Use of bupivacaine or tetracaine results in a much lower incidence, but these agents are not as well suited to brief or outpatient procedures as is the shorter acting lidocaine. Substantial research has been conducted detailing the search for reasons these complications occur and how to prevent them. A sample of the findings is summarized in an attempt to present current knowledge about the apparent causes and prevention of transient neurologic symptoms. There is promising research showing that safe and effective short-acting intrathecal anesthesia can be accomplished with procaine, prilocaine, meperidine, and sufentanil.

Method for the growth of equine airway epithelial cells in culture.

A serum-free cell culture method was developed for equine tracheal epithelial cells which allowed the growth and characterisation of the phenotypical properties of this cell type. Several variables influenced the efficacy of the attachment and growth of the isolated cells. Serum and a collagen matrix were essential components for efficient cell attachment. Once attachment had occurred, cell growth was enhanced by a serum-free medium containing bovine pituitary extract, retinoic acid, insulin, hydrocortisone, transferrin, epidermal growth factor, adrenaline and triiodothyronine. The mean time taken for the cells to grow to confluency varied from 12.6 to 28.0 days, depending on the medium used. Collagen matrix was essential to aid the proliferation of the cells.

The focus of the discipline of nursing.

The focus of nursing as a discipline has not been clearly defined but is emergent in the centrality of the concepts of caring and health. The authors propose a focus for nursing as a professional discipline in the form of a statement that identifies a domain of inquiry that reflects the social relevance and nature of its service. Several perspectives from which the focus can be studied are described. The authors assert that a unitary-transformative perspective is essential for the full explication of nursing knowledge.

Language as research data: application of computer content analysis in nursing research.

Statements from clients are valuable research data in nursing. Traditional analysis of such data can be labor intensive and difficult to code reliably or to adapt to group comparisons. The Minnesota Contextual Content Analysis, a computer-assisted analysis program, offers a systematic approach to categorizing and reducing data and to interpreting manifest and latent meaning in linguistic communications. The text is used in entirety, and reliability of coding is ensured, even with great volumes of data and multiple variables. Social context of the communication and emphasized ideas are scored variables, allowing for statistical procedures to further refine the interpretation of meaning. This rigorous method can aid nurse researchers in using language as research data.

Sensation information, self-instruction and responses to dental surgery.

The interaction effects of presurgery anxiety and two intervention strategies upon adjustment during dental surgery were examined. Patients undergoing gingivectomy (N = 113) were randomly assigned to one of four information groups: sensation, self-instruction, combined sensation and self-instruction, or control; and separated according to level of trait and state anxiety. Results showed an interaction effect between the information conditions and state anxiety (p less than .05). Compared with the control group, high state anxiety subjects reported less tension (p less than .05) and distress (p less than .05) after receiving sensation information; less tension (p less than .005) after receiving self-instruction information; and increased positive self-statements (p less than .05) with the combined information. Low-state anxiety subjects showed negative treatment effects; sensation information alone (p less than .001) or combined with self-instruction (p less than .01) reduced the number of reported positive self-statements.

BSN vs. non-BSN students and success in graduate study.

In this study, the entry and progression characteristics of graduate students (nurses) with baccalaureate degrees in fields other than nursing (non-BSN) were compared to characteristics of students whose baccalaureate degrees were in nursing (BSN). Subjects were students enrolled in the Graduate School at the University of Minnesota majoring in Nursing. Analyses showed that BSN and non-BSN students did not differ with respect to the entry or progression measures used. All non-BSN students who have been admitted have been successful in graduate study. The results of this study suggest the feasibility of serving the non-BSN population at the graduate level under certain circumstances.

Relationship of preoperative fear, type of coping, and information recevied about surgery to recovery from surgery.

This study investigated the relationship of preoperative level of fear, extent of information seeking (coping), and amount of information received about surgery to recovery from surgery. It was hypothesized that a curvilinear relationship would be found between level of preoperative fear and recovery and between extent of information seeking and recovery; it was also hypothesized that amount of preoperative information obtained would interact with extent of information seeking. The subjects were 57 female patients between the ages of 18 and 68 who were schedule for abdominal surgery. The recovery measures consisted of a self-rating of postoperative negative affect (fear, depression, and anger), number of postoperative analgesics and sedatives received, and total number of days to discharge. No curvilinear relationships were found between preoperative level of fear or type of coping and recovery from surgery. Results showed a linear relationship between level of preoperative fear and recovery, with the least favorable recovery associated with high levels of preoperative fear. A significant interaction was found between level of preoperative fear and amount of preoperative information, with high-fear subjects who reported little preoperative information experiencing the least favorable recovery period. The findings are discussed in terms of the parallel response model proposed by Leventhal.