PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Struthers

Publications and source records attributed to J Struthers.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

An investigation into community psychiatric nurses' use of humour during client interactions.

Community psychiatric nurses' (CPNs') accounts of interactions with clients often reflect benefits of using humour appropriately. This is despite the use of humour as a specific therapeutic form of communication generally being ignored during CPNs' professional development. With the growth in community care, mental health nurses are required to function more autonomously within the client's home environment, thus the contextual nature of the nurse's use of humour may have to be adjusted accordingly. How nurses makes this adjustment of their use of humour appears to be left to their own experiences. Yet inappropriate use of humour may be costly to the nurse-client relationship. The research described in this paper used a descriptive qualitative methodology to explore the perceptions of seven CPNs working in Scotland in relation to their use of humour during client interactions. As this study did not specifically access clients, ethical permission was not required from the local research and ethics committee. This did not excuse the author from recognizing ethical considerations of the subjects in relation to sharing information about being volunteers, their rights of withdrawal and the risks and benefits of the study. Confidentiality and anonymity were also maintained by the use of pseudonyms. Data collected through critical incident analysis and interviews were subjected to content analysis. Findings confirm the paradoxical nature of humour. Humour, when used appropriately, assisted the development of trust and changing the client's restrictive perceptions. Damaging effects were reported, however, if the humour was misinterpreted or perceived by the client as demeaning their experience. Although the CPNs had not received any formal education about the use of humour, recommendations centred on raising student nurses' and CPNs' awareness about their own use of humour.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1997

Regulated expression of GATA-6 transcription factor in gastric endocrine cells.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: GATA transcription factors may regulate gene expression in developing tissues, including gut epithelium. In the stomach, their expression has been linked to regulation of proton pump genes. However, GATA consensus sequences also occur in the promoter of the histidine decarboxylase gene, located in enterochrommafin-like cells. The aim of this study was to determine if GATA factors are located in gastric endocrine cells and to examine their expression during development and in response to changes in the gastric luminal environment. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction cloning, Northern blot, and gel shift assays were used to examine GATA expression in gastric endocrine cells; changes in GATA messenger RNA during development and in response to fasting, feeding, and gastric achlorhydria were determined by Northern blot. RESULTS: GATA-6 was expressed strongly in rodent gastric endocrine cell fractions, in a human ECL cell tumor, and in an endocrine cell line (STC-1) derived from gut epithelium; proteins from STC-1 cells bound specifically to GATA consensus sequences in the human histidine decarboxylase promoter. GATA messenger RNA abundance was up-regulated during terminal differentiation of the rat stomach and on feeding after a fast. CONCLUSIONS: The GATA-6 transcription factor is expressed in gastric endocrine cells and is a potential regulator of gastric differentiation and of genes involved in the response to feeding.

Achlorhydria↗
PubMed1996

Expression and regulation of a vesicular monoamine transporter in rat stomach: a putative histamine transporter.

1. Vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) translocate monoamines from the cytoplasm into secretory vesicles of endocrine cells and neurones, but they have limited affinity for histamine, and the identity of the vesicular transporter for this monoamine is uncertain. The aims of the present study were to characterize VMAT representatives in rat gastric corpus, and to determine if their expression was regulated by factors that modulate histamine biosynthesis. 2. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cloning using oligonucleotide primers to DNA sequences conserved within the VMAT family provided evidence for VMAT2, but not VMAT1 in rat gastric corpus. Northern analysis using a VMAT2 complementary RNA probe revealed a single 4 kb mRNA species in corpus endocrine cells. 3. In rats treated for up to 5 days with the H(+)-K(+)-ATPase inhibitor omeprazole, VMAT2, histidine decarboxylase and chromogranin A mRNA abundance in gastric corpus, and plasma gastrin concentrations increased progressively. Omeprazole also elevated VMAT2 expression in rats fasted for 48 h, but fasting alone, or refeeding fasted animals had no effect. 4. The results are consistent with a role for VMAT2 in the transport of histamine into enterochromaffin-like cell secretory vesicles, and with upregulation of the transporter to accommodate the increased histamine biosynthesis and secretion that accompanies achlorhydria.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

An exploration into the role of humour in the nursing student-nurse teacher relationship.

Nurse teachers can often find themselves in various situations where they resort to using humour. An exploration of the role of humour within the educational relationship between nurse teachers and nursing students is the focus of this paper. Consideration is given to the nurse teachers' requirement to develop self-awareness in their own understanding of humour in order to facilitate and recognize the reasons for the nursing students' use of humour. The development of the appropriate use of humour by nursing students may lead to enhanced nursing practice, thereby reinforcing the need for inclusion of the theory of humour in both teacher training and the nursing curriculum.

Age Factors↗