Brain gene expression changes elicited by peripheral vitellogenin knockdown in the honey bee.

Vitellogenin (Vg) is best known as a yolk protein precursor. Vg also functions to regulate behavioural maturation in adult honey bee workers, but the underlying molecular mechanisms by which it exerts this novel effect are largely unknown. We used abdominal vitellogenin (vg) knockdown with RNA interference (RNAi) and brain transcriptomic profiling to gain insights into how Vg influences honey bee behavioural maturation. We found that vg knockdown caused extensive gene expression changes in the bee brain, with much of this transcriptional response involving changes in central biological functions such as energy metabolism. vg knockdown targeted many of the same genes that show natural, maturation-related differences, but the direction of change for the genes in these two contrasts was not correlated. By contrast, vg knockdown targeted many of the same genes that are regulated by juvenile hormone (JH) and there was a significant correlation for the direction of change for the genes in these two contrasts. These results indicate that the tight coregulatory relationship that exists between JH and Vg in the regulation of honey bee behavioural maturation is manifest at the genomic level and suggest that these two physiological factors act through common pathways to regulate brain gene expression and behaviour.

Frailty and the biochemical effects of recombinant human growth hormone in women after surgery for hip fracture.

We report a randomised double blind controlled trial investigating the short-term biochemical and adverse clinical responses to recombinant human growth hormone (r-hGH) after surgery for hip fracture. Hip fractures are common, dangerous and expensive, typically affecting frail women with osteoporosis and reduced muscle mass and strength, factors also associated with poor clinical outcomes. Growth hormone therapy increases IGF-I levels, promotes anabolism and increases muscle strength in well older people and selected patient groups and therefore has therapeutic potential to assist recovery of frail patients.Thirty-one women, mean age 86 years, received 14 nightly subcutaneous injections of r-hGH 0.05 mg/kg/day (high dose) or 0.025 mg/kg/day (low dose), or placebo from the 4th post-operative day. There were several serious adverse clinical events but no excess number of adverse events in the r-hGH treatment groups. The r-hGH treatment groups had similar serum IGF-I and IGFBP-3 responses, both significantly different from placebo. The large inter-individual variation of IGF-I responses were inversely correlated with pre-treatment indicators of frailty (body composition and functional abilities).

Career planning and development for nurses: the time has come.

Developments in how the nursing profession is perceived by nurses and by society, along with unparalleled changes in health care systems, have created an environment in which individual nurses must take control of their careers and futures. Educators, employers and professional organizations also have a key role to play in fostering the career planning and development of nurses, usually the largest employee group in most health care organizations. This article provides an overview of what career planning and development is and why it is important for nurses. A career planning and development model is described that provides nurses with a focused strategy to take greater responsibility for engaging in the ongoing planning process that is crucial throughout the major stages of their career. Finally, educators, employers and professional organizations are challenged to collaborate with individual nurses on career-development activities that will enable nurses to continue to provide high-quality care in ever-changing health care systems.

Discovery Path: a retention strategy for mid-career nurses.

As health care administrators, policymakers, nursing organizations, and nurses begin to deal with the reality of a looming (and to an increasing extent, existing) serious shortage of nurses both in Canada and globally, recruitment and retention issues are again in the news. Much attention has been directed towards two responses: (a) attracting young people into the profession and helping them integrate into and identify with nursing as a lifelong career, and (b) developing sustainable retention strategies to ensure that nurses remain in nursing. One population that requires particular attention is the mid-career group of nurses. Those nurses, in their late 30s and 40s with 15 and more years of experience, have the professional memory that employers count on, the expertise that patients and clients require, and the experience and wisdom that young nurses depend on for coaching, mentoring, and support. Retention strategies targeted to these mid-career nurses require a diverse set of activities that are focused on those nurses' specific stage of personal and professional development and that recognize their unique needs. The purpose of this article is to describe a program that targets mid-career nurses, predominantly women who, having spent much of their careers and lives caring for others-children, parents, patients-are beginning to question their own futures. The goals of the program and the experiences of one group of nurses in the program, as well as the results of a two-year follow up with them, will be discussed. Recommendations for future retention strategies will also be offered.

The nurse manager as career coach.

The conventional wisdom has been that career coaching is an important part of the nurse manager's role. In the current stressful healthcare environment, nurse managers seem more than ever in need of direction in this area. This paper examines the nurse manager's traditional role as a career coach, identifies the problems the current environment poses for implementation of that role and, considers options for achieving the goal of supporting staff with career development.