The anuric preterm newborn infant with a normal renal ultrasound: a diagnostic and ethical challenge

Diagnosis and treatment of an anuric premature infant with severe respiratory compromise and a normal renal ultrasound (US), is a difficult task that requires a multidisciplinary approach. A 29-week gestation premature male infant, born after 5 weeks of worsening oligohydramnios, was ventilated for respiratory distress and remained anuric. Intensive clinical investigations and pediatric nephrology consultation that predicted very poor prognosis were followed by progressive renal failure, electrolyte imbalance, respiratory failure, ventricular arrhythmia, and finally cardiac arrest and death on day 5. In view of the predicted poor outcome, and after discussion with the parents, a decision was made not to start peritoneal dialysis (PD), and to offer only palliative therapy, with comfort care alone. Pre and postnatal diagnosis lead, in this case, to an ethical challenge that focuses on the question of futility. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memento Mori: The development and validation of the Death Reflection Scale

Despite its potential for advancing organizational behavior (OB) research, the topic of death awareness has been vastly understudied. Moreover, research on death awareness has predominantly focused on the anxiety‐provoking aspect of death‐related cognitions, thus overlooking the positive aspect of death awareness, death reflection. This gap is exacerbated by the lack of a valid research instrument to measure death reflection. To address this issue, we offer a systematic conceptualization of death reflection, develop the Death Reflection Scale, and assess its psychometric properties across four studies. Further, using a sample of 268 firefighters, we examine whether death reflection buffers the detrimental impact of mortality cues at work on employee well‐being and safety performance. Results provide strong support for the psychometric properties of the Death Reflection Scale. Further, moderation analysis indicates death reflection weakens the negative effect of mortality cues on firefighters' safety performance. Overall, these findings suggest the newly developed Death Reflection Scale will prove useful in future research on death‐related cognitions.     

Microbial communities and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the biodegradation of specified risk material in compost

Provided that infectious prions (PrP^Sc) are inactivated, composting of specified risk material (SRM) may be a viable alternative to rendering and landfilling. In this study, bacterial and fungal communities as well as greenhouse gas emissions associated with the degradation of SRM were examined in laboratory composters over two 14 day composting cycles. Chicken feathers were mixed into compost to enrich for microbial communities involved in the degradation of keratin and other recalcitrant proteins such as prions. Feathers altered the composition of bacterial and fungal communities primarily during the first cycle. The bacterial genera Saccharomonospora, Thermobifida, Thermoactinomycetaceae, Thiohalospira, Pseudomonas, Actinomadura, and Enterobacter, and the fungal genera Dothideomycetes, Cladosporium, Chaetomium, and Trichaptum were identified as candidates involved in SRM degradation. Feathers increased (P < 0.05) headspace concentrations of CH₄ primarily during the early stages of the first cycle and N₂O during the second. Although inclusion of feathers in compost increases greenhouse gas emissions, it may promote the establishment of microbial communities that are more adept at degrading SRM and recalcitrant proteins such as keratin and PrP^Sc.     

Developing safer passengers through a school-based injury prevention program

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death among young people. Fourteen percent of adolescents aged 13–14 report passenger-related injuries within three months. Intervention programs typically focus on young drivers and overlook passengers as potential protective influences. Graduated Driver Licensing restricts passenger numbers, and this study focuses on a complementary school-based intervention to increase passengers’ personal- and peer-protective behavior. The aim of this research was to assess the impact of the curriculum-based injury prevention program, Skills for Preventing Injury in Youth (SPIY), on passenger-related risk-taking and injuries, and intentions to intervene in friends’ risky road behavior. SPIY was implemented in Grade 8 Health classes and evaluated using survey and focus group data from 843 students across 10 Australian secondary schools. Intervention students reported less passenger-related risk-taking six months following the program. Their intention to protect friends from underage driving also increased. The results of this study show that a comprehensive, school-based program targeting individual and social changes can increase adolescent passenger safety.     

Lifestyle: suggesting mechanisms and a definition from a cognitive science perspective

The concept of lifestyle is rather difficult to pin down. It is used in a variety of disciplines and related to many different problems. In our highly modern society, lifestyle is more often mentioned as something we need to change in order to achieve a sustainable development. Our main interest then is how we create and change a lifestyle. How can we understand why it is sometimes difficult to achieve change? In relation to terms like beliefs, desires, intentions, habits and artefacts six factors will be suggested. Within these factors we may have a foundation for a mechanism underlying the creation and change of lifestyle. A definition of the concept of lifestyle from a cognitive science perspective will also be suggested, as derived from the same foundation and terms related to it.     

Measurement and modeling of urban atmospheric PCB concentrations on a small (8 km) spatial scale

Atmospheric transport and deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) is an important problem for ecosystems around the world. Data from several monitoring networks demonstrate that atmospheric PCB concentrations are dramatically elevated in urban areas compared to rural or background regions, such that these urban emissions of PCBs support the regional and global transport and deposition of PCBs to more remote areas. Identifying and controlling the sources of urban atmospheric PCBs is thus essential in minimizing the regional and global transport and deposition of these compounds. From December 1999 to November 2000, gas-phase PCB concentrations were measured at two monitoring locations, 8 km apart, within the New York City metropolitan area, at Jersey City and Bayonne, NJ. Concentrations, congener patterns, and temporal patterns of PCBs differ dramatically at the two sites, suggesting that a significant source of atmospheric PCBs exists within 8 km of the Bayonne site, resulting in spikes in gas-phase PCB concentration at Bayonne that are not observed at Jersey City. The Regional Atmospheric Model System (RAMS) coupled with the Hybrid Particle and Concentration Transport model (HYPACT) was used to estimate that the PCB source near Bayonne emits a flux of ΣPCBs on the order of 100 g d⁻¹. Extrapolation of this source magnitude to the area of New York City suggests that this urban area emits at least 300 kg yr⁻¹ ΣPCBs to the regional atmosphere, similar in magnitude to the flow of ΣPCB out of the Upper Hudson River into the New York/New Jersey Harbor.