Background Despite the importance placed on the concept of the multidisciplinary team in relation to intermediate care (IC), little is known about community pharmacists’ (CPs) involvement. Objective To determine CPs’ awareness of and involvement with IC services, perceptions of the transfer of patients’ medication information between healthcare settings and views of the development of a CP–IC service. Setting Community pharmacies in Northern Ireland. Methods A postal questionnaire, informed by previous qualitative work was developed and piloted. Main outcome measure CPs’ awareness of and involvement with IC. Results The response rate was 35.3 % (190/539). Under half (47.4 %) of CPs ‘agreed/strongly agreed’ that they understood the term ‘intermediate care’. Three quarters of respondents were either not involved or unsure if they were involved with providing services to IC. A small minority (1.2 %) of CPs reported that they received communication regarding medication changes made in hospital or IC settings ‘all of the time’. Only 9.5 and 0.5 % of respondents ‘strongly agreed’ that communication from hospital and IC, respectively, was sufficiently detailed. In total, 155 (81.6 %) CPs indicated that they would like to have greater involvement with IC services. ‘Current workload’ was ranked as the most important barrier to service development. Conclusion It was revealed that CPs had little awareness of, or involvement with, IC. Communication of information relating to patients’ medicines between settings was perceived as insufficient, especially between IC and community pharmacy settings. CPs demonstrated willingness to be involved with IC and services aimed at bridging the communication gap between healthcare settings.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11096-016-0377-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
The increase in the invertase activity of extracts from freshly cut potato (Solanum tluberosum L.) by "foaming," caused by selective denaturation of an endogenous invertase inhibitor, did not occur in extracts made from thin disks 2 days after slicing. Rather, foaming such extracts decreased invertase activity. Apparendy, the inhibitor disappeared after slicing, and the enzyme became more labile to foaming. Such disappearance of inhibitor could account for up to 15% of the dramatic increase in total invertase activity that had occurred within 2 days after slicing. The difference between extracts from 0-day and 2-day slices was mainly in the first of two peaks of invertase activity eluted from diethylaminoethyl-cellulose columns. This peak was increased by foaming 0-day extracts, but even when foamed was much smaller than in 2-day extracts. The apparent loss in inhibitor was not caused by a decreasing susceptibility of the enzyme to the inhibitor. Both the increase in total invertase activity and the apparent loss of inhibitor after slicing were partially blocked by actinomycin D and completely blocked by cydoheximide.The presence of the inhibitor can lead to serious errors in the usual whole disk method of assay for invertase in slices. Ethyl acetate treatment reduces the solubility of the enzyme but does not inactivate the inhibitor.Slices of storage tissue undergo manifold metabolic changes if kept moist and well aerated after cutting. Among these is a dramatic increase in invertase activity (1,7,21,22). The increased activity may be the result of de novo synthesis of invertase inasmuch as it is inhibited by chemicals that interfere with RNA or protein synthesis (3, 7, 23) and the buoyant density of an invertase fraction from carrot disks was increased by incubation in deuterium oxide (24). On the other hand, Pressey has demonstrated the presence of an endogenous invertase inhibitor in potatoes (13,14), red and sugar beets (15), and sweet potatoes (15). He pointed out (15) that there might be an inactivation of the inhibitor after slicing which could account for at least part of the increase in invertase activity.We wanted to investigate Pressey's suggestion but found it necessary first to consider the effects of various assay procedures on the apparent activity of the enzyme and inhibitor. The most A serious drawback to the whole disk method of assay is the difficulty of estimating how much the inhibitor is reducing the total invertase activity. To date, the only valid test for the presence of the endogenous inhibitor is "foaming" (9, 13, 17). The inhibitor, which is probably a protein (14), can be selectively inactivated through surface denaturation if conditions of foaming are carefully controlled (9). The foaming procedure did not seem adaptable to the whole disk method of assay; furthermore, we did not know what effect the ethyl acetate treatment would have on the inhibitor. The procedures used in previous inhibitor studies (13,17), namely homogenization of the tissue and assay of the soluble inve...
This paper describes how females are disadvantaged in many professions compared with their male counterparts and suggests some possibilities to 'even up the odds'. Research relating to female students and academics in universities is used as an illustration of what is generally occurring in the whole professional community. A number of factors affecting high ability females in schools, (which eventually contributes to the disadvantage of females in the professional workforce), are discussed, and a variety of strategies to deal with them, outlined. Lastly, the Breakthrough Programme for high ability girls is described. The major goal of the Breakthrough Programme is to help the participants become aware of what is happening to them, and to become more self-confident and strategic in their approach and actions.The title of this paper was chosen with some deliberation and with 'tongue in cheek', but it was also selected by one of the authors whose forehead was covered with bruises! This stimulated an interest in the topic of gender and career progress, which resulted in several years of participating and working in a 'Women in Leadership' programme. The interest further led to participation in the Non Government Organisation Forum, United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, where it became clear that the problem of the 'glass ceiling' is a world wide issue. The only thing that changes is the name, for example in Asia it is called the bamboo ceiling, and in other parts of the world the ceiling of fog. The problem is that, The glass ceiling, a barrier which prevents women from rising, whilst real enough from below is often invisible from above. Men at the top can look down and ask why women are not achieving and, seeing no barrier, can only surmise a lack of talent, commitment or energy. (King, 1997, p. 94) The issue of gender in education and beyond is a crucial one for our high ability females1 as many of them are prevented from partidpating in our society as fully as they might, thereby becoming a 'wasted resource. This paper starts by looking at what happens to women student and academics in universities This is used as a well illustrated example of what occurs across professions.
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