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At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Advanced cancer in children: how parents decide on final place of care for their dying child.

AIM: to explore retrospectively the decisions made by parents regarding their choice of place of care at time of death for their child with advanced cancer. DESIGN: cross-sectional descriptive study. ANALYSIS: interpretive phenomenological analysis. SAMPLE: parents of five children who had died of advanced cancer, whose care was overseen by the participating paediatric oncology centre in the southeast of England. Three children died at home and two in hospital. RESULTS: seven themes were identified, four of which will be discussed: valuing time left; needing to feel safe and secure; we didn't know what to expect; and the difference between specialist and non-specialist staff. Families' decisions were instinctive or intuitive rather than a calculated weighing up of options. Families identified aspects of care that were both valuable and could be improved. CONCLUSION: parents value the time that their children have to live when they know that their child's disease is incurable. Decisions around place of care are just that, decisions around place of care not place of death. Families valued the same types of support from staff regardless of the setting in which care was provided and found the same deficiencies difficult.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[REBEn's golden editorials].

The present work has been prepared having as its source a renewed reading of the Editorials from REBEn written in the years of 1970 to 1980. To the intention of plucking from in-between lines motivations, attitudes, values, beliefs, inclinations, ideologies, and principles, not always so clearly seen when the product of a reading destituted from the systematic effort of method, we have coupled the option of contents analysis considered to be an aggregate of techniques. Methodology encompassed three stages in the analysis work: preanalysis, analytical description, and inferential interpretation. Expected results included moving beyond the manifest contents, and gave rise to the visualization of latent contents. Such an inferential dimension allowed to recognize how bright or "golden" (Dourados) these Editorials are, above all because they irradiate real values, in addition to the formal ones. These interpretations have not discharged the use of the subjective dimension when establishing the relation between the Golden of the Editorial's author and what issues from the ensemble of the analyzed Editorial production.

Brazil↗
PubMed2005

[The meanings attributed to the voice by menopause women].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the meanings attributed to the voice by menopausal women. METHODS: Data were collected from 148 medical records of women seen in the Climacteric Women Health Program of the Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericordia Gynecology Outpatient Clinic in Curitiba, Brazil, between February 2000 and October 2001. Of them, 30 women aged between 48 and 59 years who did not consider themselves as voice professionals and had been at least 12 months in amenorrhea were selected. They were interviewed using a thematic guide with semi-structured questions. Interviews were recorded and then transcribed. Their description, analysis, and interpretation were based on social representation of the collective individual's discourse through a hermeneutics-dialectics approach. RESULTS: The resulting 27 collective discourses showed that women related their voice to biological and psychological characteristics and social aspects of daily life, identifying vocal changes during their life course. CONCLUSIONS: Social representations of communicational and functional nature were observed and highlight voice as an element of personal identity construction conceived in the social sphere. There is a need for further research based on social sciences as well as epidemiological studies and to examine voice therapy in a frailer larynx and also prioritize voice health as part of comprehensive health care delivered to climacteric women.

Female↗
PubMed1999

Clinical application of the vaginal maturation index.

With the more sophisticated radioimmunoassay serum hormone testing available, many clinicians bypass the hormonal cytology commonly expressed as the maturation index (MI). A specimen to measure the MI may be collected during a vaginal speculum examination at the same time a Pap smear is taken. Although an MI is typically included on Pap smear results, the significance of the findings is frequently overlooked. The results of accurately collected MI specimens may alert the clinician to ongoing hormonal influence. Although MI specimens may be obtained from various sites, MI readings from vaginal specimens are the emphasis of this article. Description, collection method, interpretation, factors altering readings, key related subjective and objective information, and an update on the current uses of the MI are presented.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

[Cavernous sinus syndrome].

A clear and concise description and clinical interpretation of the cavernous sinus syndrome are lacking. Pathological changes in or around the cavernous sinus may lead to failure of eye muscle nerves and of one or more branches of the trigeminal nerve. The clinical signs of the cavernous sinus syndrome are combinations of failure of these cranial nerves sometimes with exophthalmus. Because many nerves can be wholly or partially involved in the syndrome, there is no clinical uniformity and the cavernous sinus syndrome has never been well defined. A neurotopographical classification is proposed in order to simplify the multiple interpretations of the cavernous sinus syndrome. The classical cavernous sinus syndrome is divided into three syndromes: the syndrome of the superior orbital fissure, the syndrome of the lateral wall of the cavernous sinus and the central cavernous sinus syndrome.

Cavernous Sinus↗
PubMed2000

[The invisible patient--patients' experiences of staying in a hallway bed].

BACKGROUND: Shortage of beds is a problem for several Norwegian hospitals. In more than 80% of internal medicine wards in Norway, corridors are used for patients' beds. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In a questionnaire survey of in-patient experience, 774 out of 2,267 respondents responded to an open-ended invitation for comments. Of these comments, 64 were analysed with a focus on the described experience of staying in a corridor bed. RESULTS: Contents analysis confirms the assumed problems of noise, sleep disturbance, indiscretion and lack of privacy. The main finding is that patients expressed a paradoxical feeling of being invisible right there out in the corridor. INTERPRETATION: The patients' description of the experience of being avoided and unseen by fellow patients as well as health professionals is useful knowledge if doctors and staff are to counteract the disadvantages of staying in a corridor bed.

Bed Occupancy↗
PubMed2000

'She has made me feel human again': an evaluation of a volunteer home-based visiting project for mothers.

This paper provides a description and phenomenological interpretation of the Sutherland Family Network, a volunteer home visiting project in the Sutherland Shire, Sydney, Australia. Home visitation is undergoing a revival in health and welfare systems. Research and experience has shown home visitation to be an effective strategy in attempts to prevent child abuse and neglect, in all its forms. Programmes utilizing volunteers are just one form of home visitation. They do, however, raise a number of industrial, socio-political and gender issues, which have been addressed in this study. Phenomenological analysis was used to describe the experiences of the coordinator, the volunteers, and the mothers who have been involved in the project. The study is based on interviews conducted with the coordinator, 10 volunteers and 15 mothers between February and July 1996. The Sutherland Family Network provides service to new mothers, of any parity, in families at low risk of child abuse and neglect. Befriending was their main role as volunteers. Volunteers were trained not to give advise or counselling. Training also ensured against volunteer exploitation. A unique approach of this volunteer project was a focus on the new mother, rather, than the children. New mothers became involved in the Network mainly due to either emotional or physical isolation, or depression. Major functions of the Network were to provide a service of friendship, and to link mothers with other community groups and professionals.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1987

[Bone within bone of the vertebral body].

The finding of a small vertebral body inside one or more vertebral bodies is not commonly observed even if it is present in many conditions, but it lacks both a systemic description and an interpretative evaluation. After examining different radiological aspects we tried to find out their meaning which is explained by three different possible patterns: a physiological pattern in the newborn; a dystrophic pattern due to failure in prowing; and last a strengthening and support for the reduced resistance of the bone.

Bone Neoplasms↗
PubMed1997

The transformation of molecular biology on contact with higher organisms, 1960-1980: from a molecular description to a molecular explanation.

The convergence of developmental biology--embryology--and molecular biology was one of the major scientific events of the last decades of the twentieth century. The transformation of developmental biology by the concepts and methods of molecular biology has already been described. Less has been told on the reciprocal transformation of molecular biology on contact with higher organisms. The transformation of molecular biology occurred at the end of a deep crisis which affected this discipline in the sixties and seventies and which led to a cruel criticism of the preexisting models of gene regulation. Numerous new, sometimes heterodox, models were proposed to describe the level at which gene regulation took place and its underlying mechanisms. The crisis resolved itself at the beginning of the eighties with the rapid accumulation of results from genetic engineering techniques and, above all, a displacement of the descriptive level from the molecule to the cell. This displacement gave molecular biologists the 'explanandum' which had been cruelly lacking during their initial study of higher organisms. The new molecular cell biology is an interfield explanation of living phenomena, relating a description and an interpretation localized at different levels of organization.

Embryology↗
PubMed1998

The attributes of medical event-reporting systems: experience with a prototype medical event-reporting system for transfusion medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To design, develop, and implement a prototype medical event-reporting system for use in transfusion medicine to improve transfusion safety by studying incidents and errors. METHODS: The IDEALS concept of design was used to identify specifications for the event-reporting system, and a Delphi and subsequent nominal group technique meetings were used to reach consensus on the development of the system. An interdisciplinary panel of experts from aviation safety, nuclear power, cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, and education and representatives of major transfusion medicine organizations participated in the development process. Setting.- Three blood centers and three hospital transfusion services implemented the reporting system. RESULTS: A working prototype event-reporting system was recommended and implemented. The system has seven components: detection, selection, description, classification, computation, interpretation, and local evaluation. Its unique features include no-fault reporting initiated by the individual discovering the event, who submits a report that is investigated by local quality assurance personnel and forwarded to a nonregulatory central system for computation and interpretation. CONCLUSIONS: An event-reporting system incorporated into present quality assurance and risk management efforts can help organizations address system structural and procedural weakness where the potential for errors can adversely affect health care outcomes. Input from the end users of the system as well as from external experts should enable this reporting system to serve as a useful model for others who may develop event-reporting systems in other medical domains.

Blood Transfusion↗
PubMed1978

Interlaboratory comparison of radioimmunological parathyroid hormone determination.

An inter-laboratory study of serum immunoreactive PTH (iPTH) determinations using standardized sera has been performed in order to check the value of the assays for the diagnosis of hyperparathyroid states. The results demonstrate: (1) that most of the cooperating laboratories (eleven of twelve) were able to discriminate between normal and grossly elevated PTH-values; (2) that direct comparison of values from different laboratories indicates very poor agreement; (3) that PTH values cannot be interpreted without a description of the characteristics of the assay used; (4) that the introduction of standard sera is advantageous and should be undertaken; (5) that determination of iPTH in serum samples is far from being a routine method when compared with radioimmunoassays for hormones like insulin, growth hormone, etc.; the difficulties being due to lack of standardized reagents and peculiarities in the metabolism of the hormone.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

The evolution of arthropod heads: reconciling morphological, developmental and palaeontological evidence.

Understanding the head is one of the great challenges in the fields of comparative anatomy, developmental biology, and palaeontology of arthropods. Numerous conflicting views and interpretations are based on an enormous variety of descriptive and experimental approaches. The interpretation of the head influences views on phylogenetic relationships within the Arthropoda as well as outgroup relationships. Here, we review current hypotheses about head segmentation and the nature of head structures from various perspectives, which we try to combine to gain a deeper understanding of the arthropod head. Though discussion about arthropod heads shows some progress, unquestioned concepts (e.g., a presegmental acron) are still a source of bias. Several interpretations are no longer tenable based on recent results from comparative molecular developmental studies, improved morphological investigations, and new fossils. Current data indicate that the anterior arthropod head comprises three elements: the protocerebral/ocular region, the deutocerebral/antennal/cheliceral segment, and the tritocerebral/pedipalpal/second antennal/intercalary segment. The labrum and the mouth are part of the protocerebral/ocular region. Whether the labrum derives from a former pair of limbs remains an open question, but a majority of data support its broad homology across the Euarthropoda. From the alignment of head segments between onychophorans and euarthropods, we develop the concept of "primary" and "secondary antennae" in Recent and fossil arthropods, posit that "primary antennae" are retained in some fossil euarthropods below the crown group level, and propose that Trilobita are stem lineage representatives of the Mandibulata.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Possible interpretation errors in studying the pelvis in children. Description of 2 clinical cases].

The Authors describe two clinical cases in which the report of an abnormal conformation of the pubic bones required a careful differential diagnosis between a pathological condition and physiological variants of the normal ossification. Considering the different ways of this process of ossification, the pediatrician and the radiologist can avoid a wrong diagnosis with considerable consequences for the little patient.

Child↗
PubMed2005

Investigating maternal hormones in avian eggs: measurement, manipulation, and interpretation.

The last decade has witnessed a surge in studies on steroid hormones of maternal origin present in avian eggs and affecting offspring development. The value of such studies for the understanding of maternal effects and individual differentiation is endorsed and a series of methodological and conceptual issues in the current approaches is discussed. First to be addressed is the topic of correct sampling of eggs or yolk for hormone analyses. Changes in yolk hormone levels during the incubation period and the uneven distribution of hormones within the egg are discussed. Different ways of calculating hormone levels and the importance of collecting data for specific a priori hypotheses are explained. Next to be discussed are the pros and cons of different techniques for manipulating yolk hormone levels and their proper scaling to naturally occurring levels. Third, several issues hampering the interpretation of results from descriptive and experimental studies are addressed. These concern biased embryonic mortality, clutch size, and egg quality that may confound the interpretation of the effect of egg position in the laying order, and the possibility of sex-specific effects and long-term effects. Also discussed are the probability of context-dependent results (due to, e.g., other egg components affecting egg quality, parental quality, and environmental factors), the difficulty in demonstrating adaptive effects due to individual optimization, and the lack of insight in the underlying physiological processes. Finally, it is concluded that this field has shown much progress but that it would profit from a more careful consideration of methodology and from a better integration of behavioral ecology and endocrinology.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

The acceptance of personality evaluations: constraints on consistency motivations.

One week subsequent to taking a projective test of personality, subjects high or low in chronic self-esteem rated the extent to which positively- or negatively-toned, bogus personality interpretations described their personalities. Half of these subjects were led to believe that the interpretations they received were based on their projective test responses. Remaining subjects rated the self-applicability of "sample" personality interpretations described as unrelated to their previous testing. Results indicated that both favorable and unfavorable interpretations purportedly based on projective test responses were regarded as accurate descriptions of subjects' personalities. However, "sample" interpretations unrelated to prior testing were accepted as significantly more accurate descriptions when consistent than when inconsistent with subjects' self-evaluations. The results are interpreted as illustrating the operation of constraints inherent in most personality assessment 'situations on self-consistency motivations.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Working with respiratory waveforms: how to use bedside graphics.

Respiratory waveform graphics packages are available on many ventilators. Despite the prevalence of the waveforms, accurate interpretation and clinical application are not widespread. In fact, many clinicians find the waveforms confusing and choose to ignore them. This article provides a straightforward description of how to interpret the waveforms and suggests ways that the information might be used to improve clinical outcomes.

Critical Care↗