Birgitta Eriksson

Evaluation of Psycho-Social Support to Parents with an Infant Born Preterm

The birth of a preterm child is a trauma that causes crisis reactions in parents. The hypothesis was that parents need psycho-social support in order to manage this trauma. Psycho-social support was defined as both medical and social information, processing the emotional feelings, social support and starting the bonding process. The aim of the study was to explore the type and frequency of psycho-social support to parents of preterm children born during 1991, 1994 and 1997 in a Swedish university hospital. 47 parents answered a questionnaire based on previous focus group interviews. The children were born in gestation weeks 23–7. Medical and social information was more frequent during the first period ofintensive care than later on during the care process. Contact frequency concerning feelings and emotional reactions was low and decreased over time. All parents were helped to start the bonding process. One-third of the parents reported long-term psychological problems due to the birth of the preterm child, while only a few reported financial (15%), practical (13%) or social (9%) long-term problems. Conclusions were that from a crisis theory perspective psycho-social support, defined as regular medical information also ought to be initiated later on in the care process and that increased emotional support concerning crisis reactions is desirable in order to process the feelings raised by the trauma.

Emotional reactions of parents after the birth of an infant with extremely low birth weight

Emotional reactions of parents after the birth of an extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infant were followed during the early period of hospital care. Ten pairs of parents participated. The process concerning feelings of sadness, anger, fear/anxiety and joy was measured by Single Systems Design (SSD). The infants were born in gestation weeks 23-27. The emotional reactions of the mothers and fathers did not differ significantly. There was emotional confusion during the first weeks of parenthood, then the negative feelings decreased and joy increased. But at the end of a long period of care, the negative feelings reappeared. It is important to be aware that the first weeks after birth can be marked by emotional confusion and that negative feelings can return when the infant’s medical status has been brought under control. The latter might be explained emotionally as a delayed crisis reaction.

First case of an eleven-co-ordinated trivalent lanthanoid: X-ray crystal structure of penta-aquatri(nitrato)lanthanum(III) monohydrate

In the structure of [La(NO3)3(H2O)5]·H2O (determined by X-ray crystallography) the lanthanum atom is surrounded by three bidentate nitrate ligands and five water molecules; this result indicates a hitherto unknown co-ordination number of eleven for a trivalent lanthanoid.

RNA metabolism and poly(A) distribution in mouse liver following administration of dimethylnitrosamine.

Dimethylnitrosamine (DMNA) strongly inhibited RNA synthesis in mouse liver under conditions when the nucleotide pattern, rate of nucleotide synthesis and phosphorylation ratio were unaffected. (An unidentified, probably non-nucleotide, component in the acid-soluble liver fraction was selectively reduced.) The inhibition of RNA synthesis was associated with a decrease in the RNA polymerase activity of isolated liver nuclei, well established already 45 min after DMNA administration. The reduced activity included both Mg2+- and Mn2+/(NH4)2SO4-stimulated polymerase functions. The inhibition in vivo involved the whole complement of RNA, including poly (A)-containing RNA and isolated poly(A) sequences. The transfer of labelled RNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm was not impaired. There was no detachment of poly(A)-containing RNA from the microsomes, and the proportion of tightly membrane-bound microsomal RNA and poly(A) sequences was not reduced as determined by use of a flotation technique. No breakage or shortening of the poly(A) chains was indicated by sedimentation analysis.

A method for the preparation of heavy-atom derivatives of yeast cytochrome c peroxidase.

Abstract This Letter describes a strategy for preparation of heavy-atom derivatives which has succeeded with yeast cytochrome c peroxidase and which may be useful for other crystalline proteins. Transfer of the crystals from methylpentanediol solutions, in which they were grown, to solutions of polyethylene glycol ( M r 6000) maintains the crystal structure so that crystals tolerate heavy-atom concentrations at least ten times larger than could be attained in methylpentanediol mother liquors.