Views about perceived training needs of health care professionals in relation to socially assistive robots: an international online survey.

BACKGROUND: As Artificial Intelligence and social robots are increasingly used in health and social care, it is imperative to explore the training needs of the workforce, factoring in their cultural background. OBJECTIVES: Explore views on perceived training needs among professionals around the world and how these related to country cultures. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, descriptive, mixed-methods international online survey. METHODS: Descriptive statistical analysis explored the ranking across countries and relationships with three Hofstede cultural dimensions. Thematic analysis was conducted on the open-ended text responses. RESULTS: A sample of N = 1284 participants from eighteen countries. Knowing the capabilities of the robots was ranked as the top training need across all participating countries and this was also reflected in the thematic analysis. Participants' culture, expressed through three Hofstede's dimensions, revealed statistically significant ranking differences. CONCLUSIONS: Future research should further explore other factors such as the level of digital maturity of the workplace. IMPACT STATEMENT: Training needs of health and social care staff to use robotics are fast growing and preparation should factor in patient safety and be based on the principles of person- and culture-centred care.

Obstacles to compassion-giving among nursing and midwifery managers: an international study.

AIM: To explore nursing and midwifery managers' views regarding obstacles to compassion-giving across country cultures. BACKGROUND: The benefit of compassionate leadership is being advocated, but despite the fact that health care is invariably conducted within culturally diverse workplaces, the interconnection of culture, compassion and leadership is rarely addressed. Furthermore, evidence on how cultural factors hinder the expression of compassion among nursing and midwifery managers is lacking. METHODS: Cross-sectional, exploratory, international online survey involving 1 217 participants from 17 countries. Managers' responses on open-ended questions related to barriers for providing compassion were entered and thematically analysed through NVivo. RESULTS: Three key themes related to compassion-giving obstacles emerged across countries: 1. related to the managers' personal characteristics and experiences; 2. system-related; and 3. staff-related. CONCLUSIONS: Obstacles to compassion-giving among managers vary across countries. An understanding of the variations across countries and cultures of what impedes compassion to flourish in health care is important. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE AND POLICY: Nursing mangers should wisely use their power by adopting leadership styles that promote culturally competent and compassionate workplaces with respect for human rights. Policymakers should identify training and mentoring needs to enable the development of managers' practical wisdom. Appropriate national and international policies should facilitate the establishment of standards and guidelines for compassionate leadership, in the face of distorted organizational cultures and system-related obstacles to compassion-giving.

Dynamics of caspase-3 activation and inhibition in embryonic micromasses evaluated by a photon-counting chemiluminescence approach.

Caspases are key enzymatic components of the intracellular apoptotic machinery, and their role in mammalian systems is often studied using fluoromethylketone (FMK) inhibitors. Despite many advantages of such approach, efficiency of the inhibitor and membrane permeability speed are often questioned. This work therefore focuses on an exact evaluation of caspase-3 FMK inhibition dynamics in camptothecin-induced mesenchymal micromasses. Two parameters of caspase-3 FMK inhibitor were investigated: first, the stability of the inhibitory potential in the time course of cultivation and, simultaneously, the dynamics of caspase-3 FMK inhibition after camptothecin-induced apoptosis peak. A photon-counting chemiluminescence approach was applied for quantification of active caspase-3. The sensitivity of the photon-counting method allowed for evaluation of active caspase-3 concentration in femtogram amounts per cell. The inhibitor penetrated the cells within the first minute after its application, and the peak of caspase-3 started to decline to the blank level after 30 min. The inhibitory effect of the FMK inhibitor was unchanged during the entire 48 h of cultivation.

Conjugation reactions in the preparations of quantum dot-based immunoluminescent probes for analysis of proteins by capillary electrophoresis.

A number of biologically important molecules, such as DNA, proteins, and antibodies, are routinely conjugated with fluorescent tags for high-sensitivity analyses. Here, the application of quantum dots in the place of bright and size-tunable luminophores is studied. Several selected bioconjugation reactions via zero-length cross-linkers, long-chain linkers, and oriented methods for linking of quantum dots with proteins were tested. Anti-ovalbumin, anti-proliferating cell nuclear antigen, anti-hemagglutinin, and anti-CD3 membrane protein as model antibodies and annexin V were used as high-specificity selectors. The reaction yield and efficiency of the prepared immunoluminescent probes were tested by capillary zone electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection.

[Protective effects of the flavonoids osajin and pomiferin on heart ischemia-reperfusion]. / Protektivní efekt flavonoidu osajinu a pomiferinu na ischémii-reperfuzi srdce.

The study was undertaken to evaluate the cardioprotective potential of the flavonoids osajin and pomiferin against ischemia-reperfusion induced injury in rat hearts as a model of antioxidant-based composite therapy. Studies were performed with isolated, modified Langendorff-perfused rat hearts and ischemia of the heart was initiated by stopping the coronary flow for 30 min followed by 60 min of reperfusion (14 ml x min(-1)). Wistar rats were divided into four groups. The treated groups received osajin or pomiferin (5 mg/kg/day in 0.5% Avicel), the placebo group received only 0.5 Avicel; the intact group was left without any applications. Biochemical indicators of oxidative damage--malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, total antioxidant activity in serum and the myocardium have been evaluated. We also examined the effect of osajin and pomiferin on cardiac function: left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, left ventricular pressure, and peak positive dP/dt. Our results demonstrate that the flavonoids osajin and pomiferin attenuate the myocardial dysfunction provoked by ischemia-reperfusion. This was confirmed by an increase in both the antioxidant enzyme values and the total antioxidant activity. The cardioprotection provided by osajin and pomiferin treatment results from the suppression of oxidative stress and correlates with the improved ventricular function.

Descriptions of three new longidorus species from slovakia (nemata: longidoridae).

Three new Longidorus species from Slovakia are described. Longidorus carpathicus n. sp. most closely resembles Longidorus silvae but differs by having a longer odontostyle, odontophore, and total stylet; smaller a and c ratios; and longer distance to the guide ring. This new species also resembles L. picenus, L. macrosoma, and L. major but differs by having a narrower lip width. It further differs from L. picenus by having a longer odontostyle and smaller c ratio, and by lacking males; from L. macrosoma by having a longer odontostyle, smaller c ratio, by lacking males, and a more pronounced J1 tail peg; and from L. major by having a shorter body length, longer odontostyle, longer odontophore, and longer J1 tail peg. Longidorus piceicola n. sp. most closely resembles L. eridanicus, from which it differs by having a greater lip width, longer tail, smaller c ratio, larger c' ratio, shorter hyaline tail length, and a conically rounded vs. hemispherical tail. This new species differs from L. cylindricaudatus by having a larger lip width, longer odontostyle and odontophore, and a greater distance to the guide ring; from L. nevesi by having a shorter body length, longer odontostyle, larger c' ratio, and shorter hyaline tail length. Longidorus juglansicola n. sp. most closely resembles L. athesinus but differs by its longer body, wider lips, and larger a and c ratios. It closely resembles L. vineacola but differs by its shorter body length, smaller c ratio, and an almost parallel lip outline vs. an expanded lip outline; from L. lusitanicus by a longer odontophore and tail, and an almost parallel lip outline vs. an expanded lip outline.

Changes in c-src activity in a human colon cancer cell line during differentiation.

Sodium butyrate is a potent agent inducing transient differentiation of colorectal carcinoma cell line HT29. Besides an increase in the level of alkaline phosphatase and morphological changes, this differentiation is followed by a great reduction of kinase activity of the c-src gene product (pp60(c-src)), combined with a sharp decrease in binding of pp60(c-src) to GST-src SH2+SH3 fusion proteins. This finding suggests that the cause of the reduction of pp60(c-src) kinase activity could be an inactive conformation of the pp60(c-src) molecule in sodium butyrate-treated HT29 cells.

[Results with the therapeutic community for neurotic patients]. / Resultate der therapeutischen Gemeinschaft für Neurotiker.

Of 1,343 neurotic patients who completed six-week courses of treatment in a therapeutic community, 60% were considered by the therapists to have improved greatly in terms of symptoms, 36% in terms of insight and 35% in terms of attitude and behaviour. Follow-up examination using questionnaires one year after treatment showed considerable improvement in symptoms in 45%, in insight in 62% and in attitude and behaviour in 49% of the cases; 16% of the cases failed to return the questionnaire. If slight improvements are included, the proportion of patients showing improvement varies between 82 and 92% upon completion of treatment and between 70 and 80% one year later.

Influence of estrogens on bone resorption in organ culture.

Estradiol benzoate, ethinyl estradiol, and human calcitonin were compared for their ability to inhibit the spontaneous or parathyroid extract-induced bone resorption in organ cultures of 19-day fetal rat fibulae. The criteria used for the assessment of bone resorption were: the release of 45Ca from paired prelabeled bone rudiments into the culture medium, the dry weight, and the number of osteoclasts per bone. Estradiol benzoate at concentrations of 1.3 X 10(-5) to 2.6 X 10(-4)M had no effect on the release of 45Ca from fetal fibulae or on the dry weight. Histologically, treated bones were well preserved and resembled the controls. Parathyroid extract (PTE) alone caused extensive bone resorption with numerous osteoclasts and enhanced 45Ca release without weight gain. The addition of estradiol benzoate to the culture medium did not prevent the resorptive action of PTE. Ethinyl estradiol alone provoked a dose-related inhibition of 45Ca release at concentrations of 3.4 X 10(-5) to 1.7 X 10(-4)M. However, this inhibition was accompanied by a decrease in bone dry weight and by various degrees of cellular damage. The same phenomenon was observed in PTE-treated fibulae. Human calcitonin, on the contrary, inhibited the release of 45Ca by decreasing the number of osteoclasts while the weight of the fibulae increased. The inhibitory action of ethinyl estradiol appears to be caused by a toxic effect on bone cells. It is concluded that estrogens have no direct physiological effect on bone resorption in vitro.