Are parental rearing patterns and learning burnout correlated with empathy amongst undergraduate nursing students?

Objective:Empathy can help establish harmonious nurse-patient relationships.We aimed to assess the status of empathy,and explore the relationship between learning burnout,parental rearing patterns and empathy amongst nursing students.Method:A questionnaire survey that employed the Learning Burnout Scale,the Short-Form Egna Minnenav Barndoms Uppfostran(s-EMBU)and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy was conducted amongst 562 nursing students.The data were analysed on the basis of descriptive statistic and correlation analysis was used.Results:Empathy is negatively correlated with learning burnout,parental rejection and overprotection and showed no positive correlation with parental emotional warmth.Conclusions:Educators should pay attention to nursing students'feelings and learning burnout status and take positive measures to improve the empathy level of the students.Positive parental rearing patterns also help cultivate empathy.

Influence of dietary taurine and housing density on oviduct function in laying hens

Experiments were conducted to study the effects of dietary taurine and housing density on oviduct function in laying hens. Green-shell laying hens were randomly assigned to a free range group and two caged groups, one with low-density and the other with high-density housing. Each group was further divided into control（C） and taurine treatment（T） groups. All hens were fed the same basic diet except that the T groups＇ diet was supplemented with 0.1% taurine. The experiment lasted 15 d. Survival rates, laying rates, daily feed consumption, and daily weight gain were recorded. Histological changes, inflammatory mediator levels, and oxidation and anti-oxidation levels were determined. The results show that dietary taurine supplementation and reduced housing density significantly attenuated pathophysiological changes in the oviduct. Nuclear factor-κB（NF-κB） DNA binding activity increased significantly in the high-density housing group compared with the two other housing groups and was reduced by taurine supplementation. Tumor necrosis factor-α（TNF-α） m RNA expression in the high-density and low-density C and T groups increased significantly. In the free range and low-density groups, dietary taurine significantly reduced the expression of TNF-α m RNA. Supplementation with taurine decreased interferon-γ（IFN-γ） m RNA expression significantly in the low-density groups. Interleukin 4（IL-4） m RNA expression was significantly higher in caged hens. IL-10 m RNA expression was higher in the high-density C group than in the free range and low-density C groups. Supplementation with taurine decreased IL-10 m RNA expression significantly in the high-density group and increased superoxide dismutase（SOD） activity in the free range hens. We conclude that taurine has important protective effects against oviduct damage. Reducing housing density also results in less oxidative stress, less inflammatory cell infiltration, and lower levels of inflammatory mediators in the oviduct. Therefore, both dietary taurine and reduced housing density can ameliorate oviduct injury, enhance oviduct health, and promote egg production in laying hens.

Effects of taurine and housing density on renal function in laying hens

This study investigated the putative protective effects of supplemental 2-aminoethane sulfonic acid（taurine） and reduced housing density on renal function in laying hens. We randomly assigned fifteen thousand green-shell laying hens into three groups： a free range group, a low-density caged group, and a high-density caged group. Each group was further divided equally into a control group（C） and a taurine treatment group（T）. After 15 d, we analyzed histological changes in kidney cells, inflammatory mediator levels, oxidation and anti-oxidation levels. Experimental data revealed taurine supplementation, and rearing free range or in low-density housing can lessen morphological renal damage, inflammatory mediator levels, and oxidation levels and increase anti-oxidation levels. Our data demonstrate that taurine supplementation and a reduction in housing density can ameliorate renal impairment, increase productivity, enhance health, and promote welfare in laying hens.