Two groups of aged rats, a dietary restricted group fed approximately 10 g per day from 6 weeks of age and a group fed ad lib throughout their life span, were compared with a young adult group on an 8-arm radial maze and a flavor memory task. The young adult displayed efficient performance on the radial-arm maze within the 15 day test period. In contrast, both aged groups exhibited significantly poorer performance in the maze in comparison with the young adult group neither aged group differed from chance at the end of the 15 days. The flavor memory task required the animals to consume a novel flavor. Their loss of neophobia, as indexed by their subsequent consumption, was then taken as an indication of the extent to which they remembered the novel flavor and its effects. The young adult group lost their neophobia more rapidly than either of the aged groups, which did not appear to differ from each other. Taken together, this pattern of results indicates that dietary restriction does not protect animals from the memory loss observed in aged animals.

Animals↗

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Nursing interventions to reduce perioperative cardiac morbidity and mortality.

Morbidity and mortality remain high for patients with preexisting cardiac disease undergoing noncardiac surgery. These patients use an increasing number of intensive care unit, ventilator, and hospital days. This article analyzes research on factors influencing morbidity and mortality of noncardiac surgery patients and identifies nursing interventions that can improve outcomes for these patients.

Algorithms↗

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The effect of a support group on self-esteem of women with premenstrual syndrome.

A two-group, descriptive, comparative design was used to explore the effect of a support group on the self-esteem of women with premenstrual syndrome. A Mann-Whitney U test failed to show a significant difference between the support group and nonsupport group participants at the inception of the group or eight weeks later with a pretest-posttest technique. The small study sample may have contributed to the results. All support group participants reported receiving benefits from the group.

Adult↗

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Variations on calculating left-ventricular volume with the radionuclide count-based method.

Various methods for the calculation of left-ventricular volume by the count-based method utilizing red-blood-cell labeling with 99mTc and a parallel-hole collimator are evaluated. Attenuation correction, linked to an additional left posterior oblique view, is utilized for all 26 patients. We examine (1) two methods of calculating depth, (2) the use of a pair of attenuation coefficients, (3) the optimization of attenuation coefficients, and (4) the employment of an automated program for expansion of the region of interest. The standard error of the estimate (SEE) from the correlation of the radionuclide volumes with the contrast-angiography volumes, and the root-mean-square difference between the two volume sets at the minimum SEE are computed. It is found that optimizing a single linear attenuation coefficient assumed for attenuation correction best reduces the value of the SEE. The average of the optimum value from the end-diastolic data and that from the end-systolic data is 0.11 cm-1. This value agrees with the mean minus one standard deviation value determined independently from computed tomography scans (0.13-0.02 cm-1). It is also found that expansion of the region of interest beyond the second-derivative edge with an automated program, in order to correctly include more counts, does not lower the SEE as hoped. This result is in contrast to the results of others with different data and a manual method. Possible causes for the difference are given.

Aortic Valve Insufficiency↗

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Sir William Osler's gown returns home.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

England↗

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Swanning in the steps of Hippocrates.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Anecdotes as Topic↗

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ABC of first aid.

Emergency care is a broad term which usually refers to a wide range of situations, procedures and services administered in a wide variety of emergency situations. This series of articles will examine the nurse's role, both within and outside the hospital. This article will describe what the nurse's first and second responses should be in an emergency.

Emergency Medical Services↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Nurse-aid management of hypovolaemic shock.

Shock is a potentially life-threatening situation and the nurse aider must therefore be able to recognize its development and take immediate action. This article describes the actions that a nurse aider must take at the scene of an accident.

First Aid↗