Hospitalized mental health patients and oral health.

The purpose of this review of the literature is to present a contemporary perspective related to the nursing care of hospitalized mental health patients who have risk of developing oral health issues. Mental illness is a major health concern worldwide. Compounding this health issue, mental health patients/clients demonstrate avoidant behaviours related to oral health, and the symptoms of mental illness can be a compounding factor. Oral health and oral inflammatory disease are the result of lifestyle and behaviour and mental disorders affect both lifestyle and behaviour. The search used the search terms oral health AND nursing AND mental illness AND Published Date 2005 to 2010. For those who experience mental illness oral health assessment is not routinely practised by clinicians. The importance of special attention to dental problems for people with mental disorders has also been stressed by researchers since the lifespan of people with serious mental disorders is shortened compared to the general population. Oral health care is an important part of treatment. Routine oral care for hospitalized patients is imperative, and this is usually the responsibility of nurses without sufficient knowledge in oral care or comprehensive protocols to follow.

Cognitive failures and stress.

138 healthy volunteers in four age groups completed the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (Self and Other) as well as measures of attention, freedom from distractibility, daily stress, and trait-state anxiety. Self-reported and observed cognitive failures were strongly associated with stress and anxiety. Higher self-reported cognitive failure in one age group appeared tied to this finding. We discuss the usefulness of self-report of cognitive failures for neuropsychological practice.

Hemispheric asymmetry in the perception of emotional sounds.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate hemispheric asymmetry for the perception of emotional sounds. Pairs of human nonspeech sounds were presented dichotically in a forced choice recognition task. Under divided attention conditions (Experiments 1 and 2) an left ear advantage (LEA) emerged during the second block of trials. Performance accuracy for the left and right ears was equal during the first block of trials. Under selective attention conditions (Experiment 3) an LEA emerged during the first block of trials. The results suggest that attention influences the rate of development of the laterality effect but not the direction of the effect.

Ocular rigidity and intraocular pressure in keratoconus.

Eighty-five patients with keratoconus and 20 normal controls were studied. Ocular rigidity, calculated using the Friedenwald nomogram, correlated with corneal thinning (p less than 0.001) and area of cone (p = 0.05). Schiøtz pressures with increasing weights fell more than normal in Grades 0 to 3 keratoconus, but returned to normal following corneal grafting, as did ocular rigidity. Goldmann applanation pressures were low over the apex of the cone, varying most in eyes with lowest ocular rigidity and with greatest corneal thinning, but also in large sagging cones which had only minimal corneal thinning. Pressures by Mackay-Marg tonometry were normal in keratoconus. The axial length of eyes with keratoconus even after corneal grafting was longer than normal and correlated with myopia. It is concluded that abnormalities of ocular rigidity, Schiøtz and Goldmann pressures in keratoconus are determined by abnormal corneal rigidity. If corneal rigidity is low or corneal thinning is present, Goldmann applanation pressures are falsely low and Mackay-Marg tonometry more closely approximates the true intraocular pressure. The cone develops by stretching with limited loss of tissue and the lower rigidity and reduced apical stress decrease the likelihood of rupture.

Methodological issues in epidemiological studies of diet and cancer.

We review the goals of epidemiological nutritional studies and evaluate methods of dietary data collection in terms of these goals. Special problems for the cancer epidemiologist studying diet are then reviewed, including methods of data collection, quantification of food intake, and analysis of nutritional data. Food frequency methods are generally best for collection of dietary data in epidemiological studies, and the use of food data banks enables the study of specific dietary components. The major problems in analysis stem from the complex interrelationships among nutrients and their high correlation with each other.