Measuring taste impairment in epidemiologic studies: the Beaver Dam Offspring Study.

Taste or gustatory function may play an important role in determining diet and nutritional status and therefore indirectly impact health. Yet there have been few attempts to study the spectrum of taste function and dysfunction in human populations. Epidemiologic studies are needed to understand the impact of taste function and dysfunction on public health, to identify modifiable risk factors, and to develop and test strategies to prevent clinically significant dysfunction. However, measuring taste function in epidemiologic studies is challenging and requires repeatable, efficient methods that can measure change over time. Insights gained from translating laboratory-based methods to a population-based study, the Beaver Dam Offspring Study (BOSS) will be shared. In this study, a generalized labeled magnitude scale (gLMS) method was used to measure taste intensity of filter paper disks saturated with salt, sucrose, citric acid, quinine, or 6-n-propylthiouracil, and a gLMS measure of taste preferences was administered. In addition, a portable, inexpensive camera system to capture digital images of fungiform papillae and a masked grading system to measure the density of fungiform papillae were developed. Adult children of participants in the population-based Epidemiology of Hearing Loss Study in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, are eligible for this ongoing study. The parents were residents of Beaver Dam and 43-84 years of age in 1987-1988; offspring ranged in age from 21-84 years in 2005-2008. Methods will be described in detail and preliminary results about the distributions of taste function in the BOSS cohort will be presented.

Valid across-group comparisons with labeled scales: the gLMS versus magnitude matching.

Labeled scales are commonly used for across-group comparisons. The labels consist of adjective/adverb intensity descriptors (e.g., "very strong"). The relative distances among descriptors are essentially constant but the absolute perceived intensities they denote vary with the domain to which they are applied (e.g., a "very strong" rose odor is weaker than a "very strong" headache), as if descriptors were printed on an elastic ruler that compresses or expands to fit the domain of interest. Variation in individual experience also causes the elastic ruler to compress or expand. Taste varies genetically: supertasters perceive the most intense tastes; nontasters, the weakest; and medium tasters, intermediate tastes. Taste intensity descriptors on conventional-labeled scales denote different absolute perceived intensities to the three groups making comparisons across the groups invalid. Magnitude matching provides valid comparisons by asking subjects to express tastes relative to a standard not related to taste (e.g., supertasters match tastes to louder sounds than do nontasters). Borrowing the logic of magnitude matching, we constructed a labeled scale using descriptors unrelated to taste. We reasoned that expressing tastes on a scale labeled in terms of all sensory experience might work. We generalized an existing scale, the Labeled Magnitude Scale (LMS), by placing the label "strongest imaginable sensation of any kind" at the top. One hundred subjects rated tastes and tones using the generalized LMS (gLMS) and magnitude matching. The two methods produced similar results suggesting that the gLMS is valid for taste comparisons across nontasters, medium tasters, and supertasters.

c-Fos induction in visceral and vestibular nuclei of the rat brain stem by a 9.4 T magnetic field.

Recently, it has been shown that rats placed in a 9.4T static magnetic field for 30 min after drinking a glucose-saccharin solution develop a conditioned taste aversion (CTA) to glucose-saccharin. We sought to identify brain stem regions that are activated by the 9.4 T magnetic field exposure using c-Fos immunohistochemistry. Rats were restrained in a 9.4 T magnet for 30 min; sham-exposed rats were restrained but not exposed to the magnetic field. The magnetic field induced significantly more c-Fos-positive cells than sham treatment in the solitary tract, parabrachial, medial vestibular, prepositus, and supragenualis nuclei. These results suggest that magnetic field exposure causes neural activation in visceral and vestibular nuclei that may promote CTA learning.

Genetic variation and inferences about perceived taste intensity in mice and men.

The study of genetic variation in taste produces parallels between mice and men. In mice, genetic variation across strains has been documented with psychophysical and anatomical measures as well as with recordings from whole nerves. In humans, the variation has been documented with psychophysical and anatomical measures. Whole-nerve recordings from animals and psychophysical ratings of perceived intensities from human subjects have a similar logical limitation: absolute comparisons across individuals require a standard stimulus that can be assumed equally intense to all. Comparisons across whole-nerve recordings are aided by single-fiber recordings. Comparisons across psychophysical ratings of perceived intensity have been aided by recent advances in methodology; these advances now reveal that the magnitude of genetic variation in human subjects is larger than previously suspected. In females, hormones further contribute to variation in taste. There is evidence that the ability to taste (particularly bitter) cycles with hormones in women of child-bearing age, rises to a maximum early in pregnancy and declines after menopause. Taste affects food preferences, which in turn affect dietary behavior and thus disease risks. Valid assessment of taste variation now permits measurement of the impact of taste variation on health. Advances in psychophysical methodology were essential to understanding genetic variation in taste. In turn, the association of perceived taste intensities with tongue anatomy now provides a new tool for psychophysics. The ability of a psychophysical scale to provide across-subject comparisons can be assessed through its ability to show the fungiform papillae density-taste association.

Facilitators and barriers for minority students in master's nursing programs.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to identify facilitators and barriers to admission to and successful completion of a master's of science in nursing program as perceived by minority students in that program. Students currently registered in the master's of science in nursing program of a large midwestern private university who were classified as minority according to federal classification were interviewed using an interview guide of 10 open-ended questions. Data analysis identified emergent themes in the transcribed interviews. Major areas drawn from the data included personal factors, undergraduate education, support systems/family and friends, support systems/employment, graduate program/university, and graduate faculty. In each area, respondents identified both facilitators and barriers to their success in graduate education. In addition, respondents suggested several specific strategies for recruitment and retention of minority students in graduate nursing programs.

Antecedents of behavior: parents of high-risk newborns.

The Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) was used to develop an instrument to measure antecedents of parental behavior. The subjects, a convenience sample of 10 parents of high-risk newborns were interviewed 24 to 36 hours after their infant's admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Likert and semantic differential scales (Osgood, Suci & Tannenbaum, 1956) were developed based on salient themes identified from the qualitative analysis of the interview transcripts to measure parents': (a) attitudes, (b) social norms, (c) previous experiences and (d) expectations. The instrument was evaluated on 30 parents using a repeated measures design. Results reflect the reliability and validity of the instrument, an emerging model of antecedents of parent's behavior and the presence of differences in antecedents of parent's behavior.

Pregnancy complicated by hemipelvectomy: case presentations and review of the literature.

Nine patients with posthemipelvectomy with subsequent delivery of 13 living children are reported in the world's literature. This radical procedure is possible only in a modern age of intensive medical and surgical support. Additional cases can be expected in the future. We present two additional patients and three children to be added to the existing experience and also provide a review of obstetric and gynecologic considerations in the care of these unusual patients.

Reduction of radioantibody-induced myelotoxicity in hamsters by recombinant interleukin-1.

Recombinant human interleukin 1 (IL-1) administered i.p. to tumor-bearing hamsters results in a dose-dependent 2- to 5-fold increase in total peripheral white blood cells. These levels remain elevated for 2 to 3 wk and then decline to base-line levels. Pretreatment of animals with similar doses of IL-1 prevents radioimmunotherapy-induced destruction of the radiosensitive hematopoietic system. Furthermore, recovery from radio-immunotherapy-induced myelosuppression is possible if animals are given IL-1 1 wk after radioimmunotherapy treatment. Thus, both protection and rescue from the hematopoietic damage associated with radioantibody treatment are feasible by pre- or posttreatment with IL-1.

A demystification of the clinical nurse specialist role: perceptions of clinical nurse specialists and nurse administrators.

Differences of nurse administrators and clinical nurse specialists regarding components of the clinical specialist role were investigated. To be effective in facilitating the maximum use of the abilities of the clinical specialist, it is essential that nurse educators establish a data base about the clinical nurse specialist role from the perspective of employers and the clinical nurse specialists themselves. Subjects were 54 nurse administrators and 35 clinical specialists from a large metropolitan area. The results indicated that, generally, both groups were in agreement except for the research component. Administrators placed a higher value on research than did the clinical specialists. Both groups valued the clinical practice component with the clinical specialists tending to see themselves more heavily committed to direct specialized patient care than did the administrators. The educational component was also valued with the consultant function receiving the highest rating of all the functions surveyed. The administration component was valued least highly of all the components. It is recommended that nurse educators evaluate their educational endeavors in preparation of clinical specialists especially for research functions, and, also, consultation and those functions supportive of nursing staff.

New baccalaureate graduates' perceptions of organizational conflict.

This study explores the process of professional socialization in a sample of newly graduated baccalaureate nurses whose first experience as practicing professionals was in a hospital organizational system. Professional socialization was defined in terms of concept of identity reassessment as proposed by Strauss and in terms of the new graduates' descriptions of their own behavior during conflictual situations in the work setting. These descriptions were identified as conflict-reporting behavior and analyzed from two aspects: the source of the conflict and the level reached by the behavior of the respondent, as defined by a model for organizational conflict proposed by Pondy. Although changes in conflict-reporting behavior with increasing experience in the hospital bureaucracy were noted, the study findings showed no significant relationships between this behavior and ideas about the nursing role and the value of organizational inducements. Some trends in conflict-reporting behavior were noted in relation to three other variables: the size of the unit on which the new graduate was working, the identity of the other persons in the conflict, and the new graduates' work experience in a hospital system while in school.

The high-risk mother viewed in relation to a holistic model of the childbearing experience.

The high-risk antepartal mother is, first, a woman facing the experience of childbearing and, second, a woman for whom this experience is defined as high risk. Too often, health professionals concentrate on the latter almost to the exclusion of the former. In this article a holistic model of the experience of childbearing, common to all women, is proposed. It takes into account relevant social, cultural, and psychological as well as physiological factors. The model is then related to specific problems that may threaten the successful outcome of pregnancy. Appropriate implications for nursing are also discussed.