Spiritual care as perceived by Lithuanian student nurses and nurse educators: A national survey.

BACKGROUND: Political restrictions during 50years of Soviet occupation discouraged expressions of spirituality among Lithuanians. THE AIM: The aim of this paper is to describe Lithuanian nursing educators' and students' perception of spiritual care in a post-Soviet context. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: This cross-sectional study was carried out among student nurses and nursing educators at three universities and six colleges in Lithuania. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: The questionnaire developed by Scott (1959) and supplemented by Martin Johnson (1983) was distributed to 316 nursing students in the 3rd and 4th years of studies and 92 nurse educators (N=408). RESULTS: Student nurses and their educators rated general and professional values of religiousness equally; although students tended to dislike atheistic behavior more than educators. Four main categories associated with perceptions of spirituality in nursing care emerged from the student nurses: attributes of spiritual care, advantages of spiritual care, religiousness in spiritual care, and nurse-patient collaboration and communication. Themes from nurse educators paralleled the same first three themes but not the last one. CONCLUSIONS: Student nurses and nurse educators acknowledged the importance of spiritual care for patients as well as for care providers - nurses. In many cases spiritual care was defined by nursing students and nurse educators as faith and religiousness. Being a religious person, both for students and educators, or having spiritual aspects in students' personal lives influenced the perception of religious reflection.

Common house spiders are not likely vectors of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.

There is an increasing incidence in the number of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the United States. Skin and soft tissue infections caused by MRSA are often perceived as being preceded by a spider bite. Several possibilities exist to explain this phenomenon, including 1) spiders introduce MRSA into the bite wound and thereby serve as a potential vehicle or vector for MRSA; 2) MRSA colonization is an event secondary to the spider bite; and 3) the spider bite is a misguided way for patients or their physicians to explain the initial lesion of their skin or soft tissue infection. We hypothesized that if spiders were able to serve as vehicles or vectors for MRSA infections, they would be colonized with this pathogen. To test this hypothesis, we captured common household spiders and determined the patterns of normal microbial flora isolated from them. Spiders were collected from several homes by their occupants, photographed for identification, and cultured for external and internal microbial flora. Of > 100 spiders collected, none was found to carry Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. Relatively low numbers of microbial flora were isolated, and only a single isolate with pathogenic potential in humans (Aeromonas spp.) was isolated. Common house spiders are unlikely to be a source of MRSA.

The influence of long emersion on biota, ammonium fluxes and nitrification in intertidal sediments of Marennes-Oléron Bay, France.

A comparative study between waterlogged and reflooded intertidal sediments was undertaken in March and June 1999 through statistical analysis of selected sediment parameters (biota, salinity, O2, Eh), pool sizes and benthic fluxes of nutrients (NH4+, NO2-, NO3-) and nitrification rates. In March samples, absence of polychaetes and oligochaetes from upper sediment horizons were due to erosional events sweeping away surface sediments. Presence of richer annelid assemblages in June samples indicated more stable hydrodynamic conditions that favoured the development of benthic microalgae biofilms. Dewatering of sediments during a 3-day emersion period promoted a salinity rise on top layers, migration of pore water ions towards the sediment surface, and created sediment fissures that accelerated water exchange on reflooding. Reflooded and waterlogged sediment systems were comparable with respect to the release of NH4+ to overlying water but were different with respect to nitrification rates. Sediment-water NH4+ fluxes were higher (P = 0.011) in March (3.3 mmol m(-2) day(-1) compared to June (1.4 mmol m(-2) day(-1) due to higher macrofauna biomasses and lower benthic microalgae concentrations in March samples. Potential nitrification rates (range from 19 to 60 mmol NO3- (-2) day(-1)) were not statistically different between March and June. A thinner oxic layer in reflooded compared with waterlogged systems reflects a decrease of O2 diffusion into sediment at high salinities which resulted in the fall of the actual nitrification rates (P < 0.05). Our data suggest that long term dessication of intertidal sediments may depress the nitrification process at the ecosystem level.