SEARCH · PubMed Health
Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Nursing leaders are busy making healthcare delivery system changes, so there is little time to write. Yet, the very projects that the nursing leaders are developing would be excellent subjects for articles. Dictation offers the nursing leader an opportunity to write, while taking little time.
There are many varieties of medical writing. This paper suggests a sound, practical approach for writing up a research project in the conventional format for a medical or scientific journal. The structure of a scientific paper is well established, to accommodate the "Why" of the project (the Introduction), the "Who, when, where and how" (the Methods) and the "What" (the Results). The Discussion (the "So what") should be in three parts--discussion and explanation of results, disputation, and disquisition (implications for practice and for future work). Guidelines are given for getting started and for producing a paper that will, hopefully, be published and read.
The Women Speak writing project explores the use of writing as a therapeutic process with homeless women at an urban drop-in center. The project was developed in response to the women's desire to give voice to their experiences. By speaking about and sharing the experiences of their lives, a sense of empowerment through expression began. Nursing students and faculty working at the drop-in center were challenged to re-think the traditional clinical site relationship which gives highest priority to meeting the needs of students and faculty.
Publishers are preparing for the hitech future and authors and editors need to also. Publishers know that book sales may be down in the future, while computer program sales are expected to increase. Most book publishers have added media divisions to position themselves for the future. Authors and editors can also shift from writing or editing books to developing computer-based training programs. This author tells you how to write, edit, or evaluate the new computer-based training programs.
Educators acknowledge the value of objectives in planning educational sessions and in evaluating outcomes of those sessions. However, they often express frustration in writing educational objectives. The author explores methods of writing objectives in the three domains of learning.
In terms of cerebral lateralization of function, left-handed persons represent a more heterogeneous group than right-handed persons. Some evidence suggests that left-handed subgroups can be identified on the basis of the following two types of writing posture: (1) inverted posture that indicates ipsilateral hemisphere language capability and (2) straight writing posture that indicates contralateral hemisphere language capability. A direct test of this hypothesis with an intracarotid amobarbital sodium injection failed to support these predictions. For clinical decisions in which the hemisphere subserving language is necessary, one should rely on direct assessment with the use of the amobarbital injection technique.
One of the principal limitations to the size of an engineered tissue is oxygen and nutrient transport. Lacking a vascular bed, cells embedded in an engineered tissue will consume all available oxygen within hours while out branching blood vessels will take days to vascularize the implanted tissue. One possible solution is to directly write vascular structures within the engineered tissue prior to implantation, reconstructing the tissue according to its native architecture. The cell patterning technique, laser-guided direct writing (LGDW), can pattern multiple cells types with micrometer resolution on arbitrary surfaces, including biological gels. Here we show that LGDW can pattern human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in two- and three-dimensions with micrometer accuracy. By patterning HUVEC on Matrigel, we can direct their self-assembly into vascular structures along the desired pattern. Finally, co-culturing the vascular structures with hepatocytes resulted in an aggregated tubular structure similar in organization to a hepatic sinusoid. This capability can facilitate studies of tissue architecture at the single cell level, and of heterotypic interactions underlying processes such as liver and pancreas morphogenesis, differentiation, and angiogenesis.
We have investigated the network of reactions observed for the photochromic 4'-hydroxy-6-nitroflavylium compound in aqueous solutions upon pH changes (including pH jump and stopped flow experiments) and light excitation. The changes observed in the NMR and UV/Vis spectra allowed identification of ten different forms in which this compound can be transformed depending on the experimental conditions. Equilibrium and kinetic constants have been determined. Compared with other members of the flavylium family, 4'-hydroxy-6-nitroflavylium is characterized by a large cis-->trans isomerization barrier, and a very efficient hydration reaction. These peculiar features allow writing, reading, storing and erasing photonic information on 4'-hydroxy-6-nitroflavylium by a novel cyclic process that involves the following steps: write-lock/read/unlock/enable-erase/erase.
We have demonstrated two-dimensional and three-dimensional transfer of B35 neuronal cells onto and within polymerized Matrigel substrates, using matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation-direct write (MDW). The B35 cells were transferred from a quartz ribbon to depths of up to 75 microm by systematically varying the fluence emitted from the ArF (lambda = 193 nm) laser source. MDW-transferred cells were examined using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL), 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI), and alpha-tubulin staining. Confocal microscopy has shown that the transferred B35 cells extended their axons outward in three dimensions within the polymerized Matrigel substrate. The B35 cells made axonal connections and formed a three-dimensional neural network within 72 h after MDW transfer. In addition, TUNEL staining demonstrated that only 3% of the B35 cells underwent apoptosis after being transferred using the MDW process. MDW and other emergent direct write processes may provide unique approaches for creating layered, heterogeneous, three-dimensional cell-seeded scaffolds for use in peripheral nerve repair.
Primary writing tremor (PWT) is a rare motor disorder of unknown etiology, where tremor is elicited primarily or exclusively with writing. We describe a patient with PWT, present a video before and after successful treatment with botulinum toxin type A injections, and discuss a possible underlying dystonic mechanism.
It has been shown that acquisition of a skill by one hand is facilitated by previous learning of the same skill with the other hand. This is called intermanual transfer of learning, or cross-education. The investigators examined intermanual transfer of occupation of writing in a group of 10 right-handed subjects with no known motor disabilities. Subjects learned to perform a novel occupation of writing a foreign alphabet letter with either their right or left hand. Later, subjects reproduced the skill with the practised and unpractised contralateral hand. Pen movements and surface electromyography of the first dorsal interosseus muscle were recorded to assess the transfer of learning. Analysis revealed an almost full transfer of the learned motor task between hands in either left-to-right or right-to-left direction when movement time and movement size were compared. This indicates that transfer did not depend on hand dominance. These findings suggest that a task already learned by one hand can positively influence the learning of the same task by the other hand. The results have important implications for occupational therapy--namely, that activities comprising tasks previously learned by one hand would be more effective in facilitating improved performance by the other hand than activities comprising previously unlearned tasks in the case of retraining skills in patients with amputation or hemiplegia. Because the participants in this study were a small number of college students, research should be carried out with larger participant pools and participants with disabilities to consolidate the findings.
Two hundred twenty-four undergraduate students wrote about one-half of an inning of a baseball game and about one-half of a soccer game, counterbalanced, for 20 min each. Students then completed two six-item interest inventories-one each on the topics of baseball and soccer-and tests of baseball knowledge and soccer knowledge. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that individual interest in baseball was significantly related to the proportions of game actions and irrelevant-nongame actions, controlling for gender, discourse knowledge, and topic knowledge. Topic knowledge was significantly related to thematic maturity, controlling for gender and discourse knowledge. Students wrote more topic-relevant information on the baseball story-a relatively high-interest topic-than on the soccer story, a relatively low-interest topic. Implications for the Flower and Hayes (1981) writing model and for assigning students writing topics are discussed.
Two studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between achievement goals (task, performance-approach, performance-avoid), motivation constructs, and gender in the areas of middle school writing (N = 497) and science (N = 281). In both studies, task goals were associated positively with self-efficacy, self-concept, and self-efficacy for self-regulation and negatively with apprehension; performance-approach goals were associated positively with self-concept; and performance-avoid goals were associated negatively with self-concept and self-efficacy for self-regulation and positively with apprehension. In writing, performance-approach goals also related positively with self-efficacy, whereas performance-avoid goals related negatively and girls had stronger task goals. Findings related to performance-approach goals suggest that a developmental component may be at work in determining whether these goals serve a facilitative function in fostering motivation. Task goals and performance-approach goals were related, suggesting that they are each grounded in self-regulatory practices that lead to positive outcomes. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.
Investigations have shown that 75% of children aged 3-6 years, who have not as yet acquired the ability to write, tend to draw and sketch from the left to the right side. The same tendency has also been found in adults with regard to drawing, which indicates a dominance of the left field of vision when the cerebral optical analysis is used, as it invariably is for the appreciation of three-dimensional figures. The tendency to draw from the left to the right side can be traced back to works of art that date from as far back as the 6th century B.C. Before the 6th century B.C. and way back into the prehistoric period, the direction seems to have been the reverse, i.e. there was a tendency to draw from the right to the left side. Evidence showing that this was true in up to 80% of cases can be found on vase paintings with either geometric shapes or animals. These findings, together with those of earlier publications, are interpreted as evidence that a shift of dominance has taken place during the history of mankind. It is assumed that together with the increasing significance of language and writing, associated with the left cerebral hemisphere, there was also a development toward a right-sided dominance as regards optical analysis.
A novel method of family therapy for persons suffering from eating disorders, therapeutic letter writing (TLR), is presented. The protocol used for letter writing, its advantages and limitations, and a variety of applications are reviewed. The concept of TLR grew out of the study of narrative therapy, and was strongly influenced by ideas of Lorraine Wright and Maureeen Leahey about nurses and families, as well as the work of W.R. Miller around stages of change. This article will review: the process of TLR; therapeutic uses of eating disorders linked to TLR, including those relevant to families divided by distance or understanding; and the advantanges and disadvantages of TLR. Finally, a case study is discussed.
We report a patient with primary writing tremor whose tremor was treated with thalamic stimulation. He had undergone trials of multiple oral medications with no benefit for his tremor. An electrode lead was implanted in the thalamic nucleus ventralis intermedius with nearly complete control of his tremor and no postoperative complications. We conclude that nucleus ventralis intermedius thalamic stimulation is safe and effective for primary writing tremor.
A large number of reaction-time studies have shown that more complex movements require more advance programming than simpler movements, thereby increasing initiation time. In handwriting experiments, however, increases in initiation time as a function of the number of strokes tend to be very small or nonexistent. This may be caused by the well-practiced nature of letter writing and the level of advance programming. To investigate this, we conducted an experiment in which subjects had to copy, as quickly as possible, stimuli consisting of three categories. Not only letters but also figures and patterns were used, consisting of familiar figures and novel nonsense (unfamiliar) patterns which were both rarely or never drawn before. These stimuli were presented on a computer screen; writing and drawing movements were recorded by means of an XY-tablet. Initiation time was found to increase linearly with the number of strokes--which varied from four to ten--but the effect was much larger for figures and patterns than for letters, and rapidly decreased with practice (successive presentations). In order to try to eliminate a difference in initiation time on account of perceptual processing, the same stimuli were presented again, but had to be written and drawn in another style, which differed only in motor complexity (the number of strokes had to be doubled by requiring the subject to draw each line twice). Drawing double lines increased initiation time with increasing number of strokes significantly for the figures and patterns. For letters, the increase was irrespective of the number of strokes. These results suggest that the planning of a movement sequence involves several levels and that the amount of preprogramming is highly influenced by the amount of motor practice.
In a cross-sectional Dutch sample the percentage of left-handers writing with their left hand increased from 0% for people of 40 yr and over, to 100% for 14 yr olds and younger. The implications of this result for the use of writing hand as an index for handedness are discussed, and causes for this phenomenon are briefly explored.