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Media representation of mental illness has received growing research attention within a variety of academic disciplines. Cultural and media studies have often dominated in this research and discussion. More recently healthcare professionals have become interested in this debate, yet despite the importance of this subject only a selection of papers have been published in professional journals relating to nursing and healthcare. This paper examines the way in which mental illness in the United Kingdom is portrayed in public life. Literature from the field of media studies is explored alongside the available material from the field of mental healthcare. Three main areas are used to put forward an alternative approach: film representation and newspaper reporting of mental illness; the nature of the audience; and finally the concept of myth. The paper concludes by considering this approach in the context of current mental health policy on mental health promotion.

Different combinations of the extent of (low versus high) previous VG and experimental exposure to a VG or an NVG are associated with different reaction patterns-physiologically, emotionally, and sleep related. Desensitizing effects or selection bias stand out as possible explanations.

Ten subjects with asthma inhaled 3.6 micron particles labeled with 111In in air and in a helium-oxygen mixture (He-O2) at 0.5 and at 1.2 L/s. Lung retention was measured after zero and after 24 h, and the percentage 24-h retention (Ret24) was taken to represent the fraction deposited in the alveolar part of the lung. For both inhalation rates, Ret24 was significantly higher when particles were inhaled with He-O2 than with air. The increase in Ret24 seemed to be larger in subjects with asthma than in healthy persons earlier studied. Ret24 was correlated with changes in both large and small airways, especially when the particles were inhaled with He-O2. Our data suggest that inhalation of drugs in He-O2 might be of therapeutic value when treating patients with severely obstructed airways.

In human experimental data, tracheobronchial deposition reaches its maximum for particles of about 6 microns inhaled at 0.5 L/s. The purpose of the present study was to investigate if tracheobronchial deposition of 6-microns particles could be increased, especially in the smaller bronchi, using an extremely slow inhalation rate. Six healthy nonsmokers inhaled monodisperse 6-microns (aerodynamic diameter) Teflon particles labeled with 111In at 0.04 L/s. Radioactivity in mouth and throat, lung, and stomach was measured immediately after inhalation by profile scanning and in the lung also after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h. There was a substantial clearance between 24 and 72 h; around 20% of the total clearance occurred between 24 and 72 h. This is in contrast to earlier studies in which only around 1% of 6-microns particles inhaled at 0.5 L/s cleared between 24 and 72 h. This indicates a markedly higher deposition in the smaller bronchi at 0.04 L/s than at 0.5 L/s. The total tracheobronchial deposition was 50%, compared to about 30% when particles were inhaled at 0.5 L/s. These findings could be therapeutic use. They also implicate the possibility of developing a diagnostic model that can separate between bronchial reactivity in large and small bronchi.

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Deposition in mouth and throat and the fraction of alveolarly deposited particles in the lung of 3.6- to 3.8-microns Teflon particles labeled with 99mTc were estimated in nine healthy subjects. The particles were inhaled in air or helium/oxygen mixture with a flow of 0.5 l/s by subjects with or without induced bronchoconstriction. The bronchoconstriction (two- to threefold increase in airway resistance) was induced by an aerosol of methacholine bromide. As the Reynolds number is three times lower for the helium/oxygen mixture than for air, and the sedimentation rate of the particles is about the same in both, a different regional deposition between particles suspended in air and helium/oxygen mixture should be due to turbulence. Deposition in mouth and throat did not differ significantly between air and the helium/oxygen mixture. The alveolarly deposited fraction tended to be larger for unconstricted airways and was significantly larger for constricted airways for inhalations in the helium/oxygen mixture compared to air. In real life, air pollutants and therapeutic aerosols may be inhaled with larger flow rates and broncho-constriction may be more pronounced in patients, so that deposition of particles due to turbulence can be important.

Postoperative Heart Block in Congenital Heart Disease. Introduction: Cardiac conduction system injury is a cause of postoperative cardiac morbidity following repair of congenital heart disease (CHD). The national occurrence of postoperative complete heart block (CHB) following surgical repair of CHD is unknown. We sought to describe the occurrence of and costs related to postoperative CHB following surgical repair of common forms of CHD using a large national database. Methods and Results: Retrospective, observational analysis performed over a 10‐year period (2000–2009) using the Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID). Visits for patients ≤24 months of age were identified who underwent surgical repair of ventricular septal defects (VSD), atrioventricular canal defects (AVC), and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Patients were identified who were diagnosed with postoperative CHB, further identifying those requiring a new pacemaker placement during the same hospitalization. Costs associated with visits were calculated. There were 16,105 surgical visits: 7,146 VSD, 3,480 AVC, and 5,480 TOF. There was a decrease in postoperative mortality (P = 0.0001) with no significant change in postoperative CHB. Hospital stay and cost were higher with CHB and placement of a permanent pacemaker. Repair of AVC (OR 1.77; [1.32–2.38]) was associated with a higher rate of postoperative CHB. Length of hospital stay and total cost were significantly increased with the development of postoperative CHB and increased further with placement of a permanent pacemaker. Conclusion: There has been little change over time in the frequency of postoperative CHB in patients undergoing repair of VSD, AVC, and TOF. Postoperative CHB results in major added cost to the healthcare system. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 23, pp. 1349‐1354, December 2012)