Bioavailability of soluble oxalate from tea and the effect of consuming milk with the tea.

OBJECTIVES: To measure the availability of oxalate normally extracted when making tea from two commercially available black teas bought from a supermarket in Christchurch, New Zealand in July 2001. DESIGN, SUBJECTS AND INTERVENTION: A randomized double crossover study. Six students and four staff consumed six cups of each brand of tea both with and without added milk over a 24 h period. A total urine collection was taken for the initial 6 h followed by a further 18 h. The oxalate content of the urine voided was measured using an enzyme kit method and the availability of the soluble oxalate consumed was measured for the 6 h and the total 24 h sample. SETTING: University campus. RESULTS: The mean soluble oxalate content of black tea in the two different commercial tea bags was respectively 6.1 and 6.3 mg soluble oxalate/g tea. The mean availability of the oxalate extracted from tea measured over a 6 h period ranged from 1.9 to 4.7% when tea was consumed without milk. The availability of the soluble oxalate from tea ranged from -3.0 to 2.3% for each of the two brands of tea investigated over a 24 h period. CONCLUSION: These studies show that consuming black tea on a daily basis will lead to a moderate intake of soluble oxalate each day, however the consumption of tea with milk on a regular basis will result in the absorption of very little oxalate from tea.

Soluble and insoluble oxalate content of mushrooms.

Six different cultivars of edible fungi were bought from a local supermarket in Uppsala, Sweden and three different cultivars of wild growing fungi were harvested from the forest adjoining the city. The edible portions of the raw fungi were then analysed for total and soluble oxalate content. A portion of each fungi was then cooked by first boiling in a small amount of water followed by frying in a small amount of butter. The total oxalate content of the raw, commercially grown mushrooms ranged from 58.9 to 104.1 mg/100 g DM while the values for the total oxalate content of the cooked mushrooms ranged from 48.9 to 124.6 mg/100 g DM. Apart from cultivars ostronskivling and piopino the cultivated mushrooms contained mostly insoluble oxalates. Mushrooms harvested from the forest contained only soluble oxalate with the levels ranging from 29.3 to 40.2 mg/100 g DM in the raw tissue. Cooking marginally lowered the soluble oxalate content of these mushrooms. The levels of soluble and insoluble oxalates of all the mushrooms analysed were low compared to other common oxalate-containing vegetables.

Changes in students' orientations to nursing during nursing education.

The purpose of this study was to describe the changes that took place in students' orientations to nursing during nursing education. The theoretical background of the research lay in the model of nursing students' orientation to nursing, which defines students' orientations in terms of caring, nursing expertise and life orientation. The orientations differ from each other as regards the student's pre-educational caring and nursing experiences, the meaning of caring and nursing and the expectations for a career in nursing. The research was conducted qualitatively, but quantitative measures were also used. The interviews of 19 voluntary nursing students concerning their orientation to nursing both at the beginning and at the end of education were analyzed by content analysis. The categories were derived deductively from the model of nursing students' orientation to nursing. The categories were quantified, and paired t-test and Wilcoxon test were performed to test the significance of the changes in students' orientations between the beginning and the end of education.

Factors associated with students' orientations to nursing.

Factors associated with students' orientations to nursing This paper presents the results of a study focusing on the factors associated with orientations to nursing. Students' orientations to nursing have not as yet been a focus of nursing research. In some other professions, however, professional orientation has been associated with learning motivation and study performance, and has been seen as a predictor of work satisfaction. In this study, students' orientations to nursing were defined in terms of caring, nursing expertise and life orientation. The hypothesis of whether students' pre-educational experiences of nursing, gender, choice of nursing specialty, problems with nursing studies and intention to stay in nursing were associated with different orientations was tested. The extent to which students were orientated to caring, nursing expertise and their own life was also examined. The orientation to nursing measurement tool, which has been developed on the basis of a qualitative study, was used to collect the data. Nurse teachers collected the data from nursing students (n=184) who were studying in three different nursing programmes in Finland. Non-parametric assessments (Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test) of the differences between the students' orientations were carried out. A majority of the students were highly life-orientated, and two-thirds had average nursing expertise or caring orientation scores. The results supported the study hypothesis of an association between students' orientations and their gender, choice of nursing speciality, problems with nursing studies and intention to stay in nursing. However, the hypothesis of an association between students' pre-educational nursing experiences and orientation to nursing was not supported. The contradictions between students' orientation to nursing and the philosophy of nursing underlying the study programme may be a source of motivational problems and dissatisfaction with nursing education. Therefore, nurse educators are challenged to discuss curriculum matters and student supervision in order to promote flexibility in planning personal study programmes.

Oxalates in oca (New Zealand yam) (Oxalis tuberosa Mol.).

Oca (Oxalis tuberosa Mol.) or New Zealand yam, in common with other members of this genus, contains oxalate, an antinutritive factor. Twelve South American and two New Zealand cultivars of oca were analyzed for total and soluble oxalate contents of the tubers. The range of total oxalate levels was 92-221 mg/100 g of fresh weight. Levels of soluble and total oxalate extracted from the tubers were not significantly different, suggesting that no calcium oxalate is formed in the tubers. The oxalate concentrations obtained in this study for oca suggest that previously reported values are too low and that oca is a moderately high oxalate-containing food. This is the first report of a tuber crop containing moderate to high levels of soluble oxalates in the tubers and no insoluble oxalates.

Nurse caring behaviours.

The purpose of this research paper is to examine caring behaviours and how they relate to nurses practice from the psychiatric and general nurses' views. Whether this caring is influenced by the nurses' age, gender or qualification is also examined. The convenience sample used were nurses (n = 118) of all grades and experience in a general hospital and in a psychiatric hospital. The Care-Q instrument was used. The response rate was 66%. Statistical analysis included rankings of sub-scale and individual items and the chi-square test of association. The results show that nurses ranked physically based caring behaviours higher than affective behaviours. They emphasized monitoring and comforting behaviours but paid less attention to anticipatory behaviours. Gender appeared to have the greatest influence on what caring behaviours were valued. Male nurses were less likely than female nurses to be accessible, forming trusting relationships or performing comforting behaviours. The results challenge both nurses and nurse educators to examine caring behaviours in nursing practice.

The patient's daily activities in acute psychiatric care.

This study is part of a research project entitled: 'Towards patient-focused nursing on an acute psychiatric ward'. The aim of the project is to describe the changes taking place in nursing activities during a research project. This paper is a qualitative analysis of the patient's daily activities in acute psychiatric care. The data were collected by observing, selectively, seven patients for 61 h. The constant comparative method was used in data analysis. On the basis of the data analysis, the categories listed below were identified. 1 The core category of the patient's daily activities was 'being a patient'. 2 Being a patient mainly consisted of being alone without meaningful activities. 3 Participating in the daily routines of the ward consisted of being alone while being together with others. 4 Being together was initiated by either the patient or the nurse. The aim of being together was to satisfy the acute basic needs of the patients. 5 Being together on the initiative of the nurse meant participating in the daily routines of the ward. Because the data were collected by observation, no insight into the patients' desires, expectations and thoughts could be presented. The findings challenged the nursing staff to develop a more therapeutic daily routine in acute psychiatric care. It was also of importance to change the patients' meaningless existence into a meaningful participation in the daily activities on the ward.