Dyadic coping and associated factors in women with high-risk pregnancy and their spouses: Do they interact?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the present situation of dyadic coping in pregnant women with high-risk pregnancy and their spouses, as well as the relevant factors and the interactions between partners. METHODS: From October 2022 to September 2023, a cross-sectional survey was undertaken, involving 460 pairs of pregnant women with high-risk pregnancy who were hospitalized for childbirth and their accompanying spouses. These participants completed self-assessments on dyadic coping, marital satisfaction, perceived stress, and self-efficacy through the completion of paper questionnaires. The collected data was then subjected to analysis utilizing correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was then developed using the structural equation modeling(SEM) to test the binary association. FINDINGS: Pregnant women preferred to utilize stressful communication, whereas their spouses employed supportive and delegated coping. Both external (such as education level, employment status, and medical insurance) and internal (such as marital satisfaction, perceived stress, and self-efficacy) factors were associated with pregnant women's dyadic coping. Education level and internal factors were also associated with the spouses' dyadic coping. In contrast to spouses, who can only have a partner effect on pregnant women through marriage satisfaction, all pregnant women's internal elements played the partner effect on the spouses' dyadic coping. IMPLICATIONS: The study's findings help identify populations with inadequate coping ability. Promoting marital satisfaction, self-efficacy, and reducing perceived stress are associated with enhancing the dyadic coping ability of pregnant women with high-risk pregnancy and their spouses. It also suggests that antenatal care should intervene with pregnant women with high-risk pregnancy and their spouses as a whole, and emphasize collaborative coping and effective mutual support between couples rather than spousal support alone.

Path Analysis Between Family Functioning and Mental Health in People With Neuropathic Pain: Roles of Pain Intensity, Self-Perceived Burden, Pain Catastrophizing, and Functional Status.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the pathways between family functioning and mental health in people with neuropathic pain, as well as to discuss the mediating role of pain intensity, self-perceived burden, pain catastrophizing, and functional status. DESIGN: Cross-sectional design reported using the STROBE guidelines. METHODS: A total of 277 people with neuropathic pain completed face-to-face questionnaires to evaluate family functioning, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, self-perceived burden, functional status, and mental health. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was constructed to analyze the pathways between these variables. RESULTS: The positive total effect between family functioning and mental health was significant and partially mediated by self-perceived burden, pain catastrophizing, and functional status. In addition, better family functioning was associated with higher pain intensity, which worsens self-perceived burden, pain catastrophizing, and functional status, masking 23.68% of the positive effects between family functioning and mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Better family functioning was associated with better mental health, as explained by reduced self-perceived burden, reduced pain catastrophizing, and improved functional status. However, this benefit may be partially masked by the relationship that better family functioning explains higher pain intensity. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Nurses' comprehensive assessment and management of neuropathic pain from both the family and individual levels, such as family functioning, pain intensity, self-perceived burden, pain catastrophizing, and functional status, may be beneficial in promoting patients' mental health. In addition, it is necessary to identify why good family functioning is associated with higher pain intensity and intervene in this regard.

Mediating effects of social support and presenteeism on turnover intention and post-traumatic stress disorder among Chinese nurses in the post-pandemic era: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The shift in national policies for epidemic prevention and control in the post-pandemic era is undoubtedly a challenge for health care professionals. Nurses, as an important part of the health care professional population, have an even greater impact on their mental health and occupational safety. This may expose nurses to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and presenteeism, and ultimately lead to their turnover. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between turnover intention and post-traumatic stress disorder among Chinese nurses during post-pandemic era, and the mediating role of social support and presenteeism. Methods: In this study, a multicentre cross-sectional survey was conducted in April 2023 among nursing staff in several tertiary general hospitals in northern China, with online data collection using the Turnover intention Scale (PTSD), the Impact of Events Scale (IES), the Social Support Scale (SSS), and the Stanford presenteeism Scale (STAS) and the relationship between variables was analyzed using hierarchical multivariate regression, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and the Turnover intention from the pathway between. Results: Data were collected from 2,513 nurses who met the inclusion criteria, in which general information such as age, department, specific department, Professional title, history of alcohol consumption, form of employment, Years of working, and Average working hours per day were statistically significant with the difference in the turnover intention. The results of the study showed a 32% high turnover intention among nurses in the post-pandemic era, which was lower than the turnover intention during the pandemic. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that post-traumatic stress disorder, social support, and presenteeism were significant predictors of turnover intention. The total effect of post-traumatic stress disorder on turnover intention to work was 0.472 [bias modified 95% confidence interval (0.415-0.483), p < 0.001]. Social support and attendance played a partially intermediate role in post-traumatic stress disorder and propensity to leave (an indirect effect of 26% of the total effect). Conclusion: Turnover intention and post-traumatic stress disorder levels are high and social support plays an important role in the tendency to leave the job and post-traumatic stress disorder, healthcare institution can be achieved by strengthening social support for nurses in the post-epidemic era and preventing the occurrence of presenteeism.

Preparation of a shared chip for cell capturing and imaging with nanoparticle scaffold, nanogap and circulating tumor cell detection.

Aim: To achieve accurate detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in a large-volume sample. Materials & methods: Silica nanoparticles were crosslinked layer-by-layer on glass slides as the substrate of a chip using polyacrylic acid. Polyacrylic acid was immobilized as a spacer and capture ligands were immobilized on the spacer. Results: The chip can be integrally applied to capture, post-treatment and imaging detection for CTCs. The detected cell numbers were 33 and 40 for 9 cell/ml samples and clinical blood samples (7.5 ml), respectively. The detection ratio of positive samples was 100%. Conclusion: The significantly increased detected number for CTCs indicates that this methodology may avoid or greatly reduce the false-negative ratio of positive clinical samples.

Nurses' Working Experiences of Their Provision of Cross-Cultural Services to Tibetan Patients With Kashin-Beck Disease: A Qualitative Study.

INTRODUCTION: Limited qualitative studies exist on nurses' experience in terms of communicating with and caring for patients with endemic diseases. The purpose of this study was to describe the working experiences of nurses caring for Tibetan patients with Kashin-Beck disease in China. METHOD: A qualitative design was used in this study. Sixteen nurses who worked in the orthopedics department of a large tertiary general hospital in Wuhan, China, constituting a purposive sample, were interviewed face-to-face using semi-structured guided questions. RESULTS: Three major themes and nine subthemes were identified. Major themes included the challenge in cross-cultural nursing, stress adjustment in cross-cultural nursing, and reshaping competencies in cross-cultural nursing. DISCUSSION: This study revealed that nurses encountered multifaceted challenges when caring for Tibetan patients with Kashin-Beck disease. In a multiethnic society, communication and language skills, cultural competency and cultural sensitivity, and diverse training methods to improve cross-cultural knowledge could increase ethnic minority patient satisfaction with cross-cultural care.

Dynamic changes of serum protein in rats with acute intoxication of Chinese cobra snake venom by proteomic analysis.

To elucidate the toxic mechanism of snake venom at the protein level, proteomics technology was applied to investigate the effect of venom on circulation in the mammalian body. Temporal proteomic analysis was performed to profile the dynamic changes in the sera of Sprague-Dawley rats administered with Chinese cobra venom or saline. Using 8-plex iTRAQ analysis, 392 and 636 serum proteins were identified to be linearly upregulated or downregulated over time in the low-dose group and high-dose group, respectively. These proteins were mainly associated with the acute phase response pathway, complement system, and liver X receptor (LXR)/retinoid X receptor (RXR) and farnesoid X receptor (FXR)/RXR activation pathways. Compared with the low-dose group, the immune response and integrin pathways were inhibited in the high-dose group, although no obvious effect was observed. With consistently higher or lower expression in the high-dose group compared to the low-dose group throughout the whole process of venom poisoning, two proteins, Kininogen-1 (KNG1) and orosomucoid 1 (ORM1), which are involved in metabolism and immune response, occupied a core position in the pathway network and are considered venom dose-dependent biomarker candidates.

Acute poisoning types and prevalence in Shanghai, China, from January 2010 to August 2011.

In recent years, the number of cases of acute poisoning has increased in China, yet; currently, there is no detailed report published that addresses acute poisoning in the mainland of China. We collected biological samples from 466 cases of suspected acute poisoning at the hospitals in Shanghai, China, and examined them using spectroscopy, chromatography and chromatography/mass spectrometry. Of the 466 cases, 230 cases (100 men and 130 women) were positively confirmed as acute poisonings. There were 80 types of compounds identified in this study. Medications were the most frequent substances identified, and the other substances included pesticides, multiple compounds, volatile compounds, natural toxins, and others. The results of this study indicate a need for strengthening the education about and management of the rational and safe use of drugs in Shanghai.

Segmental hair analysis after a single dose of zolpidem: comparison with a previous study.

Hair is a useful aid and sometimes even the only matrix in the analytical strategy in drug-facilitated crime (DFC) investigations. In this novel study, segmental hair analysis was performed after a single 10 mg dose of zolpidem was given to 20 Chinese volunteers. Hair was collected 1 month after administration and was analyzed using ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Zolpidem concentrations were found to be in the range of 135.0-554.6 pg/mg in the proximal 0-2 cm segments. These results were markedly different from those reported by Villain et al., who used volunteers administered equal doses of zolpidem. The analytical method used, as well as the volunteers' hair color, inter-individual variations such as metabolic capacity, hair growth rate, drug incorporation rates, physical state of the hair, age, gender, body weight, etc. and diffusion from sweat or other secretions are all factors that should be considered when interpreting the DFC results.

Effects of triterpenic acid from Prunella vulgaris L. on glycemia and pancreas in rat model of streptozotozin diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The effects of triterpenic acid from Prunella vulgaris L. (TAP) on diabetes and its mechanism are uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of TAP on antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, and pancreas-protective in streptozotozin (STZ)-diabetic rats. METHODS: The diabetic model was produced by injection of 60 mg/kg STZ. Blood was drawn from the tail vein of rats after 72 hours. Rats with blood glucose ≥ 16.7 mmol/L were considered diabetic. Diabetic rats were randomly divided into four groups: (1) Diabetes rat (STZ), (2) Diabetic rats treated with 50 mg/kg of triterpenic acid from Prunella vulgaris L (STZ + TAP50), (3) Diabetic rats treated with 100 mg/kg TAP (STZ + TAP100), and (4) Diabetic rats treated with 200 mg/kg TAP (STZ + TAP200). Normal rats (n = 10) acted as the control group (NC). TAP was administered by the intragastric route once each day for six weeks. Body weight and the concentration of blood glucose (BG) were measured after three and six weeks. Fructosamine (FMN), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO), and the activities of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in serum were determined after six weeks using commercially available kits following the manufacturer's instructions. Pathologic changes in pancreatic ß-cells were also investigated by microscopic examination after hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining. The level of SOD mRNA in pancreatic ß-cells was measured by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: The levels of BG, FMN, NO, and MDA and the activities of NOS in serum in the four diabetes groups were significantly increased compared with the control group (P < 0.01). The activity of SOD in serum and the body weight was significantly decreased compared with the control group (P < 0.01). After administration of TAP to diabetic rats for six weeks, the body weight and the levels of BG, FMN, MDA, NO and the activity of NOS in serum decreased significantly compared with the STZ group in a dose-dependent manner. The activity of SOD in serum and body weight increased significantly compared with the STZ group in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, diabetic rats showed a significant decrease in SOD mRNA expression in pancreatic ß cells. However, these changes were reversed by TAP. Histopathological examination also showed the protective effect of TAP on pancreatic ß cells. CONCLUSIONS: Triterpenic acid from Prunella vulgaris L. has an anti-diabetic effect, by controlling blood glucose and antioxidants, and has a protective effect on the pancreas.