Family education for people with schizophrenia in Beijing, China: randomised controlled trial.

Background: Much of China lacks well-developed services for people with schizophrenia and their families, and most of the existing services focus on hospitals. There is a need for culturally sensitive family treatments offered by nurses.

Aims: To conduct a longitudinal experimental study examining the effect of patient and family education in a sample of Chinese people with schizophrenia.

Ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence after breast conservation therapy: outcomes of salvage mastectomy vs. salvage breast-conserving surgery and prognostic factors for salvage breast preservation.

Purpose: To compare outcomes of salvage mastectomy (SM) and salvage breast-conserving surgery (SBCS) and study the feasibility of SBCS.

Methods And Materials: Of 2,038 patients treated with breast-conserving therapy at Yale-New Haven Hospital before 1999, 166 sustained an ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR). Outcomes and prognostic factors of patients treated with SM or SBCS were compared.

A phase I/II trial to evaluate three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy confined to the region of the lumpectomy cavity for Stage I/II breast carcinoma: initial report of feasibility and reproducibility of Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) Study 0319.

Background: This prospective study (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Study 0319) examines the use of three-dimensional conformal external beam radiation therapy to deliver accelerated partial breast irradiation. Reproducibility, as measured by technical feasibility, was the primary end point with the goal of demonstrating whether the technique is widely applicable in a multicenter setting before a Phase III trial is undertaken.

Methods And Materials: This study was designed such that if fewer than 5 cases out of the first 42 patients evaluable were scored as unacceptable, the treatment would be considered reproducible.

Stress in women with postpartum depression: a phenomenological study.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to report a study of the lived experience of postpartum stress among depressed Hong Kong Chinese mothers.

Background: Research consistently relates postpartum stress to the mood and well-being of mothers during the postpartum period. While several studies have used questionnaires to assess the stress levels of mothers or have identified stressors by asking them to list stressful events, the existing literature lacks in-depth information on the lived experience of postpartum stress from the perspective of the depressed mother.

Neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis in Borderdale sheep.

Aim: To describe the gross and histological lesions of a neurological disease in Borderdale sheep characterised clinically by blindness and circling, as a basis to its classification.

Methods: Formalin-fixed tissues were processed into paraffin wax and epoxy resin for light and electron microscopy of variously stained sections.

Results: Lesions were those of a lysosomal storage disease with severe neurodegeneration of the cerebral cortex.

A study of three measures of expressed emotion in a sample of Chinese families of a person with schizophrenia.

Emotional climate or expressed emotion (EE) has been examined in families of white descent who have a family member with schizophrenia but few studies have been conducted in Asian or Chinese families. This study tested the utility of the five-minute interview (FMI), adjective checklist (ACL) and family attitude scale (FAS) in a sample of Chinese family members in Beijing, in an attempt to introduce useful measures of EE into practice. A sample of 51 family members were interviewed and administered the three instruments.

A primary health care curriculum in action: the lived experience of primary health care nurses in a school of nursing in the Philippines: a phenomenological study.

Primary health care (PHC) nursing is widely practiced in the Philippines yet little is published about the nurses working in this field nor by these nurses. This paper describes a PHC nursing curriculum conducted in an island in the south of the Philippines and examines the experience of nurses working as faculty and simultaneously providing service to the local community. Data were collected from a convenience sample of faculty by interview and analysed using Huserrlian (descriptive) phenomenology and Colaizzi's method of data analysis.

The validity and reliability of the World Health Organization Mental Disorders Checklist for use in a telehealth clinic in Hong Kong.

This research aimed to test the validity and reliability of the 'World Health Organization Mental Disorders Checklist' for use in a telehealth clinic in Hong Kong. The Checklist adopted four subscales: (i) depression; (ii) anxiety; (iii) alcohol use disorders; and (vi) functioning and disablement, and was translated from English into Chinese. It was validated by a panel of five experts to confirm its content validity (content validity index = 0.

Breast brachytherapy: North American experience.

Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) has been investigated for over a decade as a potential alternative adjuvant treatment approach after lumpectomy for women with early-stage breast cancer. The rationale for APBI is based on pathologic data regarding the spread of cancer within the breast and study of the patterns of in-breast recurrence after breast-conserving therapy performed with or without whole-breast irradiation. This report reviews the North American experience using interstitial brachytherapy for APBI.

Perceived stress and support of the Chinese postpartum ritual "doing the month".

"Doing the month" is the traditional ritual for Chinese postpartum women. A qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 20 Hong Kong Chinese women was conducted to examine the women's perceptions of stress and support in "doing the month." Four central themes were identified as follows: bound by the environmental constraints, difficulties in following the prescriptions of the rituals, conflicts between the parties involved, and attainment of the maternal role.

CT-guided multi-catheter insertion technique for partial breast brachytherapy: reliable target coverage and dose homogeneity.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility and dosimetric reliability of a CT-guided method of catheter insertion for accelerated partial breast brachytherapy (APBB).

Materials And Methods: From 1995 to 2002, 77 patients were treated with APBB using a multi-catheter low-dose-rate or high-dose-rate approach. Within that timeframe, 29 patients with early stage invasive breast cancer were treated with high-dose-rate partial breast brachytherapy and had CT scans of the brachytherapy implant available for analysis.

Implication of Internet growth on enhancing health of disadvantaged groups in China: a global perspective.

The Internet is promising to play a prominent role in health care in the future, but there is an imbalance in its use between the East and the West, between genders, the rich and poor, the educated and uneducated and the urban and rural. This paper looks at the use of the Internet from the perspective of these subgroups across the world, and outlines some of the problems facing disadvantaged groups in particular older people and their caregivers in China. Older people and their predominantly family caregivers have limited access to computers which is compounded by lack of access to good health care.

An exploration of the caring attributes and perceptions of work place change among gerontological nursing staff in England, Scotland and China (Hong Kong).

This study investigates caring attributes and perceptions of work place change among qualified and unqualified nursing staff working with older people in three countries. A Modified Caring Attributes Questionnaire and Perception of Workplace Change Schedule were administered to 737 staff. Caring attributes scores were highest for nurses working in long stay settings, and lowest in nurses aged 25-29 years.

Clients and facilitators' experiences of participating in a Hong Kong self-help group for people recovering from mental illness.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of self-help groups in the rehabilitation of people recovering from mental illness. A qualitative approach was adopted, with individual interviews of 12 clients and four focus group interviews of 22 professionals and volunteers, in a Hong Kong self-help organization. Three major categories emerged from the client interviews: the meaning of self-help; experience of self-help group involvement; and changes in life.

Breast cancer: new radiation treatment options.

Conventional radiotherapeutic treatment for early and advanced breast cancer has been based on broad-field radiation treatment principles that date back several decades. Although these strategies have been successful, newer techniques now offer the ability to incorporate improved target imaging, dosimetric planning, and treatment delivery into the treatment design. These newer techniques include accelerated partial-breast irradiation and hypofractionated whole-breast irradiation for early-stage breast cancer, and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for both early and advanced breast cancer.

Postpartum depression and related psychosocial variables in Hong Kong Chinese women: findings from a prospective study.

Research on predictors of postpartum depression (PPD) in Hong Kong (HK) Chinese women is scant. A prospective study with 385 HK Chinese postpartum women was conducted to identify correlations between PPD and demographic variables, and antenatal depression and psychosocial variables, and to determine which of these variables were predictors of PPD. Using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), we classified 19.

Imatinib-responsive hypereosinophilia in a patient with B cell ALL.

Hypereosinophilia is a rare presenting sign of acute lymphocytic leukemia. A 29-year-old male was diagnosed with idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome with respiratory symptoms. Although his peripheral blood eosinophilia decreased in response to treatment with imatinib mesylate, a follow-up bone marrow showed a diffuse infiltrate of myeloperoxidase-negative blasts.

A profile of the caring attributes of Hong Kong and Thailand psychiatric nurses.

Despite the unique cultural characteristics of psychiatric nurses in Hong Kong and Thailand little has been written about them or their caring practices. This study set out to examine the caring practices and demographic features of nurses working in these two countries where the development of the nursing education system has distinct similarities, yet where culture, career paths and qualifications differ. The Caring Attributes Questionnaire (CAQ), previously used in general nursing samples, was modified and validated for the study and administered to 275 and 227 psychiatric nurses in Hong Kong and Thailand, respectively.

MammoSite and interstitial brachytherapy for accelerated partial breast irradiation: factors that affect toxicity and cosmesis.

Background: In interstitial brachytherapy (IB), cosmesis and toxicity correlate with volume of tissue irradiated, dose homogeneity index (DHI), and adjuvant doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide based chemotherapy (ACCT). MammoSite brachytherapy (MSB) irradiates smaller volumes than IB, and lower dose homogeneity does not appear to affect toxicity. However, clinical experience suggests that other factors may also play an important role in cosmesis and toxicity with MSB.