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Biomedical subjects

L Keegan

Publications and source records attributed to L Keegan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The environment as a healing tool.

Environmental pollution is a growing concern in developed and developing nations. Since the advent of air tight construction, there has been an onset of in-building allergens and consequent respiratory problems. Solutions exist for combating external environmental pollution. A person's awareness about their own internal mental environment is necessary for them to address ways to better cope with the inevitable external environmental stresses.

Allergens↗

A comparison of the use of alternative therapies among Mexican Americans and Anglo-Americans in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.

In a descriptive study with a convenience sample of 60 Mexican Americans and 60 Anglo-Americans, four research questions were asked: (a) What kinds of and how frequently are alternative therapies used by the Mexican Americans and Anglos in the Texas Rio Grande Valley? (b) Is there a difference in the kinds and amounts of therapies used by the two groups? (c) Do the participants self-report this information to their established, conventional, care provider? and (d) What are the participants' subjective reports about these therapies? Findings showed that both groups used alternative practitioners, but that Mexican Americans reported using them more than twice as often as did Anglo-Americans. The most prevalent therapies sought by Mexican Americans were prayer, herbal medicine, massage, relaxation, spiritual healing, and chiropratic. The most prevalent therapies sought by Anglo-Americans were prayer, massage, chiropractic, herbal medicine, megavitamin therapy, and spiritual healing. Almost twice as many Mexican Americans (45%) report discussing their therapies with their established primary health provider than did Anglos (26.7%).

Adult↗

Assessing your publication potential.

To be published in a professional nursing journal is an admirable goal and one that is obtainable if you have skills, knowledge, and tenacity and if you want to share information with others. Everything we do or accomplish in life is built on steps, and that translates into taking one step after another. Writing for publication is no different; this article enumerates and describes the 11 steps to becoming published. Self-answer questions direct the reader to consider whether to compose solo or with a co-author(s). The nursing journal review processes and options of where to submit queries or completed articles are covered. Books to help writers begin writing or refining their work are included. This article states that the first rule of becoming published is "where there's a will, there's a way." It concludes with the dictate, start now. Procrastination has stifled more projects than any other obstacle. Pick up your pen or turn on your computer and go to work.

Authorship↗

Use of alternative therapies among Mexican Americans in the Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Alternative therapies have gained increasing recognition and usage in North America during the past decade. In a descriptive study with a convenience sample of 213 Mexican Americans, three research questions were asked: (1) What specific kinds of alternative therapies do Mexicans in the Rio Grande Valley use? (2) What percentage of the sample group uses alternative therapies? and (3) Do the users of alternative therapies self-report these visits to their established, conventional, primary health care provider? Findings showed that 44% of respondents had used an alternative practitioner one or more times during the previous year. The most commonly sought therapies were herbal medicine, spiritual healing and prayer, massage, relaxation techniques, chiropractic, and visits to a curandero (Mexican folk healer). The majority (66%) never report visits to alternative practitioners to their established primary health provider.

Adolescent↗

Cultural beliefs and health behaviors of pregnant Mexican-American women: implications for primary care.

A significant aspect of holistic primary care nursing is that it seeks to assess and understand clients' health beliefs and behaviors in the context of culture. This article examines implications for primary care nursing practice based on the cultural beliefs and health behaviors of pregnant Mexican-American women. Giger and Davidhizar's transcultural assessment model is used to evaluate six cultural phenomena present in all cultural groups. Culturally sensitive primary care by certified nurse-midwives in a community health birth center setting is described.

Birthing Centers↗

Holistic nursing in New Zealand.

New Zealand nurses are active and dynamic emerging holistic practitioners. Despite an economic recession and dramatic changes in their health care delivery systems, the country's holistic nurses have mobilized to develop and begin a holistic nurses' association. Holistic nurses from both islands have begun independent practices using complementary therapies and modalities. Although New Zealand is distant from North America geographically, there have been increasing numbers of exchange visits and subsequent influence on international holistic nursing practice. New Zealand, being a lush, green, clean, semitropical country in the South Pacific, is a wonderful place for North American nurses to experience cross-cultural nursing while still being in an English-speaking country.

Holistic Health↗

A concept of holistic ethics for the health professional.

Holistic ethics involves a basic underlying concept of the unity and integral wholeness of all people and of all nature that is identified and pursued by finding unity and wholeness within the self. Within this framework, acts are not performed for the sake of law, precedent, or social norms, but rather out of a sense of doing good freely in order to witness, identify, and contribute to unity. The development of holistic ethics involves elements of both the masculine and feminine concepts interacting and relating to one another and encompassing traditional ethical views. It is characterized in the yin-yang mode of the monad of the East and the Western concept of masculine and feminine. Holistic ethics is not an ethics that is grounded or judged either in the act performed or in the distant consequences of the act, but rather in the conscious evolution of an enlightened individual of raised consciousness who performs the act. The concern is the effect of the act primarily on the individual and his or her larger Self (that unity of which he or she is a part).

Consciousness↗

Neutrophil chemotaxis and neutrophil elastase in the aortic wall in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms.

To test the hypothesis that elastin-derived peptides (EDP) from human aortic tissue may be chemotactic for inflammatory cells, we studied the chemotaxis of neutrophils and monocytes to EDP derived from abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), aortic occlusive disease (AOD), and control aortas. In addition, we determined if neutrophils deliver neutrophil elastase to the aorta in vivo by staining for neutrophil elastase (NE) throughout the course of abdominal aortic aneurysms with the monoclonal antibody to human NE. EDP from AAA, AOD, and control tissue demonstrated significant chemotactic activity for both neutrophils and monocytes. All neutrophils had a greater attraction to EDP from AAA tissue compared to AOD and control aorta. Neutrophils from AAA patients were more attracted to EDP of AAA tissue than were neutrophils of AOD or control patients attracted to their respective aortic EDP. Neutrophil elastase stained positive in the adventitia and thrombus throughout the course of the aneurysm, but was not found in the intima, media, or plaque of the aorta.

Aorta, Abdominal↗