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Little Exploration (little + exploration)
Selected AbstractsCerebrospinal fluid insulin-like growth factors IGF-1 and IGF-2 in infantile autismDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 9 2006Raili Riikonen MD PhD There has been little exploration of major biologic regulators of cerebral development in autism. We measured insulin-like growth factors (IGF) -1 and -2 from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by radio immunoassay in 25 children with autism (median age 5y 5mo; range 1y 11mo-15y 10mo; 20 males, 5 females), and in 16 age-matched comparison children without disability (median age 7y 4mo; range 1y 1mo-15y 2mo; eight males, eight females). IGF-1 and -2 concentrations were further correlated with age of patients and head size. CSF IGF-1 concentration was significantly lower in patients with autism than in the comparison group. The CSF concentrations of children with autism under 5 years of age were significantly lower than their age-matched comparisons. The head circumferences correlated with CSF IGF-1 in children with autism but no such correlation was found in the comparison group. There was no difference between the two groups in CSF IGF-2 concentrations. No patients with autism had macrocephaly. We conclude that low concentrations of CSF IGF-1 at an early age might be linked with the pathogenesis in autism because IGF-1 is important for the survival of Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. The head growth might be explained by the actions of IGF-1 and -2 reflected in CSF concentrations. [source] In search of legitimacy: personnel management associations worldwideHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 3 2005Elaine Farndale In considering the development of the HR ,profession', there has been little exploration of the role of the professional association. This is particularly true looking across national boundaries, raising questions about the impact and extent of homogeneity of personnel management association activities. It is argued that professional associations have a legitimising role to play in establishing a specialist body of knowledge, regulating practice and providing a source of internal and external identity for practitioners. A recent worldwide survey of personnel management associations found that, although associations are active in these areas, there is a lack of mandatory control and regulation across the profession, diluting the legitimacy accorded by such activities. Association activities were also found to be largely generic across countries, resulting from inter-association collaboration, although different contexts result in different outcomes. [source] Consumer participation in mental health services: looking from a consumer perspectiveJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 4 2003J. LAMMERS rn bed mba phd Widespread changes to the structure and delivery of mental health services have effected considerable change in the role of the service user or consumer. The view of consumers of mental health services as passive recipients of care and treatment is gradually undergoing a significant shift, in light of an increasing expectation that consumers be provided with opportunities to become actively involved in all aspects of their care. Consumer participation is now broadly reflected in government policy; however, to date there has been little exploration of the extent to which the policy is being realized in practice. To provide a greater understanding of these experiences and opinions, in-depth interviews were conducted with consumers of mental health services (n = 15). The interview transcripts were analysed through the identification and explication of major themes. The findings reinforce the need to view consumers as heterogenous and respond to individual needs and interests regarding consumer participation. Despite variations in experience there is a clear need to develop mechanisms to support consumer involvement and to influence the attitudes of health professions to become more valuing of a consumer perspective. Nurses are in an ideal position to lead this process. [source] Infant feeding in the neonatal unitMATERNAL & CHILD NUTRITION, Issue 4 2010Rhona J. McInnes Abstract Infants admitted to a neonatal unit (NNU) are frequently unable to feed by breast or bottle because of ill health or prematurity. These infants require nutritional support until they can start oral feeding. Breastfeeding is advocated for these infants, and mothers are frequently encouraged to express breast milk to be fed via the enteral tube. However, by discharge, breastfeeding rates tend to be low. Oral feeding requires careful management, and although practices may vary because of clinical need, some may be informed by unit norms. There is limited evidence for effective breastfeeding support in this environment and little exploration of the effect of routine feeding decisions. This study aimed to explore feeding decisions and considered how these might affect outcomes. The staff in the two large urban NNUs who participated in the feeding decisions were interviewed and the data were analysed using a theoretical framework. Feeding decisions were made mainly by the unit staff, with limited parental involvement. Subsequent management varied, with differences being related to staff experience and beliefs, unit norms, parent's expectations and physical constraints within the unit. The staff were overtly supportive of breastfeeding, but the need to monitor and quantify milk intake may undermine breastfeeding. Furthermore, feeding breastfed infants during the mothers' absence was controversial and provoked debate. There is a need for clear guidelines and increased parental involvement in feeding decisions. Routine practices within the system may discourage mothers from initiating and persisting with breastfeeding. A change in unit culture is required to fully support the parent's feeding choices. [source] Patients' attitudes and beliefs about back pain and its management after physiotherapy for low back painPHYSIOTHERAPY RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2007Stephen May Abstract Background and Purpose.,Contemporary guidelines for the management of low back pain often consider patient involvement and responsibility an essential component; however, there has been little exploration of patients' opinions about back pain and its management. Method.,A qualitative study of patients' perspectives of back pain in the UK; 34 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who had recently received physiotherapy for back pain; interviews were transcribed and analysed using framework analysis. A topic guide was used to steer the interview and themes were extracted from the data. Results.,Thirteen key themes were revealed; seven of these related to issues of satisfaction with physiotherapy and are described elsewhere. The six themes considered here dealt with the participants' experience of and attitudes to back pain and its management. Themes were: the impact of back pain on their life; perspectives about back pain; its management; their involvement in its management; what strategies they had for self-management; and expectations about the episode of physiotherapy beforehand. Conclusions.,In this group of participants with a history of back pain and physiotherapy treatment a common finding was a degree of acceptance of the back pain problem and the belief that patient involvement in management was essential. These findings would suggest that many patients with back pain may respond positively to the message of self-management. However, acceptance of this message was not automatic, but generally occurred gradually in line with patients' experience of back pain and treatment. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Multiple forms of activity-dependent intrinsic plasticity in layer V cortical neurones in vivoTHE JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 13 2009Jeanne T. Paz Synaptic plasticity is classically considered as the neuronal substrate for learning and memory. However, activity-dependent changes in neuronal intrinsic excitability have been reported in several learning-related brain regions, suggesting that intrinsic plasticity could also participate to information storage. Compared to synaptic plasticity, there has been little exploration of the properties of induction and expression of intrinsic plasticity in an intact brain. Here, by the means of in vivo intracellular recordings in the rat we have examined how the intrinsic excitability of layer V motor cortex pyramidal neurones is altered following brief periods of repeated firing. Changes in membrane excitability were assessed by modifications in the discharge frequency versus injected current (F,I) curves. Most (,64%) conditioned neurones exhibited a long-lasting intrinsic plasticity, which was expressed either by selective changes in the current threshold or in the slope of the F,I curve, or by concomitant changes in both parameters. These modifications in the neuronal input,output relationship led to a global increase or decrease in intrinsic excitability. Passive electrical membrane properties were unaffected by the intracellular conditioning, indicating that intrinsic plasticity resulted from modifications of voltage-gated ion channels. These results demonstrate that neocortical pyramidal neurones can express in vivo a bidirectional use-dependent intrinsic plasticity, modifying their sensitivity to weak inputs and/or the gain of their input,output function. These multiple forms of experience-dependent intrinsic changes, which expand the computational abilities of individual neurones, could shape new network dynamics and thus might participate in the formation of mnemonic motor engrams. [source] Beyond Text: Constructing Organizational Identity MultimodallyBRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2007David Oliver Organizational scholars have proposed a broad range of theoretical approaches to the study of organizational identity. However, empirical studies on the construct have relied on text-based organizational identity descriptions, with little exploration of multiple intelligences, emotions and individual/collective identity representations. In this paper, we briefly review the empirical literature on organizational identity, and propose a novel method for empirical study involving structured interventions in which management teams develop representations of the identities of their organizations using three-dimensional construction toy materials. Our study has five main implications. By engaging in a method that draws on multiple intelligences, participants in this study generated multifaceted and innovative representations of the identities of their organizations. The object-mediated, playful nature of the method provided a safe context for emotional expression. Because it involved the collection of both individual and collective-level data, the technique led to collective constructions of highly varying degrees of ,sharedness'. Finally, the organizational identity representations integrated unconscious or ,tacit' understandings, which led to the enactment of organizational change. [source] Ego Development and Ethnic Identity Formation in Rural American Indian AdolescentsCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2005Denise L. Newman Ethnic identity development was assessed in the context of ego development in 12- to 15-year-old students from a Southeastern American Indian community. Self-protective was the modal level and was characterized by awareness of ethnic group membership but little exploration or self-reflection. Impulsive adolescents had the least developed ethnic identities and highest levels of interpersonal vulnerability. Conformist adolescents expressed positive feelings about ethnic group affiliation, described relationships as harmonious, but demonstrated moderate social anxiety. Postconformist adolescents had the highest levels of agency, social competence, and identity achievement, but also had high levels of psychological distress and family conflict. Adolescent identity strivings may be understood in context with the level and timing of psychosocial maturity, for which ego development appears a useful marker. [source] | |||||||||||||