Calming and Focusing: Students' Perceptions of Short Classroom Strategies for Fostering Presence.

PURPOSE: Presence is the essence of professional nursing in the nurse-patient connection. Nursing students have little exposure to strategies fostering presence. This pilot study explored students' perceptions of strategies to encourage presence in the classroom. DESIGN: A three-question survey was distributed to students in the last week of classes. Faculty not teaching that course administered the survey. METHOD: Four faculty used strategies aimed at encouraging presence. These strategies included starting class with a mindfulness minute, mindful movement, singing bowl, peace and power check in, and a discussion of a current event. Each class used only one strategy consistently through the semester. Participants were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in one of seven classes taught by these faculty. FINDINGS: Overall the students found strategies to be beneficial. In reflecting on the experience with the strategies, four themes emerged: calming/relaxing; focusing/centering; setting aside distractions; and feeling community and connection. CONCLUSION: These brief strategies were acceptable to most students and were helpful to the students in preparing for class. The response to mindfulness minute was most positive. Further research is needed on the introduction of strategies that help students in the classroom and may also increase presence at the bedside.

Treatment of zinc deficiency without zinc fortification.

Zinc (Zn) deficiency in animals became of interest until the 1950s. In this paper, progresses in researches on physiology of Zn deficiency in animals, phytate effect on bioavailability of Zn, and role of phytase in healing Zn deficiency of animals were reviewed. Several studies demonstrated that Zn is recycled via the pancreas; the problem of Zn deficiency was controlled by Zn homeostasis. The endogenous secretion of Zn is considered as an important factor influencing Zn deficiency, and the critical molar ratio is 10. Phytate (inositol hexaphosphate) constituted up to 90% of the organically bound phosphorus in seeds. Great improvement has been made in recent years on isolating and measuring phytate, and its structure is clear. Phytate is considered to reduce Zn bioavailability in animal. Phytase is the enzyme that hydrolyzes phytate and is present in yeast, rye bran, wheat bran, barley, triticale, and many bacteria and fungi. Zinc nutrition and bioavailability can be enhanced by addition of phytase to animal feeds. Therefore, using phytase as supplements, the most prevalent Zn deficiency in animals may be effectively corrected without the mining and smelting of several tons of zinc daily needed to correct this deficiency by fortification worldwide.

Validation of a column liquid chromatographic method for phytate.

A column liquid chromatographic method that uses a spectrophotometric detector for the analysis of phytate and other inositol phosphates in foodstuffs and seeds is described. It has been tested thoroughly and sent to 6 other laboratories where there was an interest in such an analytical method and the equipment was available for performing it. These samples were blinded to the individual collaborators. Also sent was a standard wheat bran sample available from the American Association of Cereal Chemists with a standard phytate value reported as 3.2%. The postcolumn sulfosalicylic acid reaction was developed in the 1950s as an analytical method for ferric ion. All reagents are aqueous solutions and the specific pH values of each are important. The column separation is at pH 4, which dissociates all phosphate analogs. The ferric sulfosalicylate is at pH 1.8. The postcolumn reaction is then at pH 2.0-2.3. At this pH, the sulfosalicylate complexes one ferric ion and will yield it to a stronger complexing agent such as a phosphate ester. At higher pH values, sulfosalicylate complexes 2 ferric ions and will yield neither to these anions. The method sensitivity is 8-12 nmoles/injection.