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Biomedical subjects

P Dyke

Publications and source records attributed to P Dyke.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Use of the measure of process of care for families (MPOC-56) and service providers (MPOC-SP) to evaluate family-centred services in a paediatric disability setting.

BACKGROUND: The value of family-centred principles in paediatric professional caregiving services is widely acknowledged. However, the degree to which such services adhere to these principles is not well documented. AIM: To examine the perceptions of both families and service providers of the extent to which family-centred services were being implemented by a paediatric disability service provider and to pinpoint areas for improvement. METHOD: A sample of 158 families receiving services from the Cerebral Palsy Association of Western Australia completed the Measure of Processes of Care for families (MPOC-56) and 43 clinicians (most of them physiotherapists, speech pathologists and occupational therapists) completed the Measure of Processes of Care for service providers (MPOC-SP). RESULTS: As in previous studies, the families rated 'respectful and supportive care' highest and 'providing general information' lowest. Clinicians rated 'showing interpersonal sensitivity' highest and 'providing general information' lowest. Analysis of individual items revealed that the following areas of family-centred services were in need of improvement: provision of general written information to families on a range of issues, continuity of care, greater involvement of the family in therapy and provision of more detailed information about therapy issues and provision of more general support to whole families. CONCLUSIONS: The MPOC tools have been found useful in enabling disability service providers to identify areas for improvement and move towards providing services that are more family centred.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2001

Dioxin contamination in food. Bayreuth, Germany, from September 28 to October 1, 2000.

Dioxin and PCB monitoring programs for food and feeding stuff in most countries of the world, including many European Countries are currently inadequate. Better control of food production lines and food processing procedures is needed to minimize entry of dioxin to the food chain and will help to avoid dioxin contamination accidents. This would also improve the ability to trace back a possible contamination to its source. European guidelines for monitoring programs should be established to ensure comparable and meaningful results. These guidelines should define the minimum requirements for the design of monitoring programs, analytical methods, and quality assurance. Though data from Northern Europe shows that the general population exposure to dioxin and PCB has decreased during the last ten years these compounds continue to be a risk of accidental contamination of the food chain. The most prominent recent example is the Belgian dioxin contamination of feeding stuff in 1999. The Belgian dioxin contamination was not detected due to dioxin monitoring programs but by their direct biological effects seen in animals. Four other cases of dioxin contamination have been detected in Europe since 1997 due to local monitoring programs. One of them (citrus pulp pellets 1998) was in a much larger scale than the Belgian dioxin contamination. The general population's exposure to dioxins and PCBs is still in the same range (1-4 pg WHO-TEQ/kg body weight and day) as the recently revised WHO tolerable daily intake (TDI). There is concern that short-term high level exposure to dioxins, furans, and PCB may cause biological effects on the human fetal development and further research is required. Further actions to control sources building on considerable advances already made in many countries may need to be supplemented by measures to prevent direct contamination of feeding stuff or food to reduce general population exposure further.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed2001

A randomized trial of a problem-based learning approach for teaching epidemiology.

PURPOSE: To conduct a controlled trial of traditional and problem-based learning (PBL) methods of teaching epidemiology. METHOD: All second-year medical students (n = 136) at The University of Western Australia Medical School were offered the chance to participate in a randomized controlled trial of teaching methods for an epidemiology course. Students who consented to participate (n = 80) were randomly assigned to either a PBL or a traditional course. Students who did not consent or did not return the consent form (n = 56) were assigned to the traditional course. Students in both streams took identical quizzes and exams. These scores, a collection of semi-quantitative feedback from all students, and a qualitative analysis of interviews with a convenience sample of six students from each stream were compared. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in performances on quizzes or exams between PBL and traditional students. Students using PBL reported a stronger grasp of epidemiologic principles, enjoyed working with a group, and, at the end of the course, were more enthusiastic about epidemiology and its professional relevance to them than were students in the traditional course. PBL students worked more steadily during the semester but spent only marginally more time on the epidemiology course overall. Interviews corroborated these findings. Non-consenting students were older (p < 0.02) and more likely to come from non-English-speaking backgrounds (p < 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: PBL provides an academically equivalent but personally far richer learning experience. The adoption of PBL approaches to medical education makes it important to study whether PBL presents particular challenges for students whose first language is not the language of instruction.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A carbon and nitrogen flux model of mussel digestive gland epithelial cells and their simulated response to pollutants.

The mussel digestive gland epithelial cells provide a key interface between the organism and pollutants such as aromatic hydrocarbons. The simulation of their uptake and export mechanisms as well as an internal protein degradation pathway, and any subsequent disruption to any of them, has been undertaken. A computational model is described, which simulates the flow of carbon and nitrogen through a mussel's digestive cell. The model uses a compartmentalised view of the cell with inviolate 'pipelines' connecting each of the volume-variable partitions. Only the major physiological pathways relevant to the flow of either carbon or nitrogen or volume are modelled. Simulated response to hydrocarbon exposure is examined.

Animals↗