Addressing the psychosocial needs of young people with thalassaemia undergoing bone marrow transplantation.

Beta thalassaemia major is an inherited condition that causes severe anaemia. Patients with the condition require regular blood transfusions. One curative treatment option available is bone marrow transplantation, but a bone marrow transplant is a high-risk, painful procedure requiring prolonged hospitalisation.

Meeting the psychosocial needs of adolescents and their families during a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), an oncological condition affecting blood-producing cells, is the most common type of childhood cancer. It is more common in younger children but the number of young people diagnosed is significant, with about 125 new cases diagnosed each year. While survival rates are high, diagnostic tests, symptoms and treatment regimens can have negative psychological and sociological implications for patients and their families.

The use of assessment rubrics to enhance feedback in higher education: An integrative literature review.

Objective: To explore the literature relating to the use of rubrics in Higher Education.

Design: A systematic search using three databases was undertaken, the question used to guide the search strategy was: What are the benefits and challenges of using rubrics as part of the assessment process in Higher Education?

Data Sources: Three electronic databases were searched: British Education Index, Education Resources Information Centre and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature.

Review Methods: The review utilised an integrative approach to the retrieval and appraisal of the research.

The American Urological Association Symptom Index for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia.

A symptom index for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was developed and validated by a multidisciplinary measurement committee of the American Urological Association (AUA). Validation studies were conducted involving a total of 210 BPH patients and 108 control subjects. The final AUA symptom index includes 7 questions covering frequency, nocturia, weak urinary stream, hesitancy, intermittence, incomplete emptying and urgency.

Developing a long-term ventilation service in a children's hospice: an illustrative case study.

Children who use long-term ventilation at home and their parents find it difficult to access suitable respite services for short breaks. This article describes, through the use of a case study, a project to develop a respite service for such children at a children's hospice in England. The service development was a response to local need, which included a requirement to develop bespoke assessment documentation and processes as well as a comprehensive staff development package.

Technology dependence and children: a review of the evidence.

Much has been written about the needs of children who are technology dependent and their care. This literature review aims to highlight some of this work--with a particular focus on children who are ventilator dependent--a group that has been extensively researched in the UK. The views of children and their parents were also sought to identify the emotional, financial and practical burdens of living with technology dependence.

Budget-impact model for colonoscopy cost calculation and comparison between 2 litre PEG+ASC and sodium picosulphate with magnesium citrate or sodium phosphate oral bowel cleansing agents.

Objective: With the availability of several bowel cleansing agents, physicians and hospitals performing colonoscopies will often base their choice of cleansing agent purely on acquisition cost. Therefore, an easy to use budget impact model has been developed and established as a tool to compare total colon preparation costs between different established bowel cleansing agents.

Methods: The model was programmed in Excel and designed as a questionnaire evaluating information on treatment costs for a range of established bowel cleansing products.

A research review to identify the factors contributing to the development of pressure ulcers in paediatric patients.

The aim of this research review was to answer the clinical question 'what factors contribute to the development of pressure ulcers in the paediatric population?' A sensitive, systematic search was undertaken to identify all empirical studies that could answer this question. The question was broken down using facet analysis to identify the key terms that were used in the search strategy. All relevant databases were searched and a hand search of key journals was also undertaken.

International Consultation on Urological Diseases: a decade of progress.

The International Consultation on Urological Diseases (ICUD), under the cosponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Society of Urology (SIU), and the International Union Against Cancer (UICC), is active in the organization of global consultations on urological diseases. The major urological associations from the five continents (the American Urological Association (AUA), the Urological Association of Asia (UAA), the Confederation Americana Urologia (CAU), and the European Association of Urology (EAU)), together with societies with expertise in specific programs such as the International Continence Society, the International Society for Impotence Research, the International Prostate Health Council, the American Cancer Society, the International Union Against Cancer, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer, came together in the late 1980s on the basis of their proven record in organizing successful international meetings on urological cancer to initiate the concept of the ICUD. At the suggestion of the WHO, a First International Consultation on Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy (BPH) was organized in 1991, not only to provide recommendations to medical practitioners but also to define and plan future research on the subject.

Bladder cancer clinical guidelines panel summary report on the management of nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (stages Ta, T1 and TIS). The American Urological Association.

Purpose: The American Urological Association convened the Bladder Cancer Clinical Guidelines Panel to analyze the literature regarding available methods of treating nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer, and to make practice policy recommendations based primarily on treatment outcomes data.

Materials And Methods: The panel searched the MEDLINE database for all articles related to nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer published from 1966 to January 1998. Outcomes data were extracted from articles accepted after panel review and meta-analyzed to produce comparative probability estimates for alternative treatments.

An assessment of fertility in male workers exposed to molinate.

Molinate is a thiocarbamate herbicide used for weed control in rice fields. Since the late 1970s, findings from reproductive toxicology studies of rats have led to concern that molinate might affect human male fertility. Semen samples were collected from 272 formulation and production workers at three US plants.

Prognostic significance of neuroendocrine differentiation in clinically localized prostatic carcinoma.

Several recent studies have focused attention on neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in prostatic carcinoma (PC). Clinical studies have shown PC with NED to behave aggressively and to be associated with poor prognosis. To evaluate NED as an independent prognostic factor, we conducted a retrospective study of 87 patients with clinically localized PC who underwent radical prostatectomy.

Receptors for BPH growth factors are located in some neuroendocrine cells.

Background: Prostatic neuroendocrine (NE) cells play an important role in the growth and differentiation of the prostate. We are still unable to characterize the exact mechanisms which lead to interactions between the epithelial cell and the NE cell. We offer several interactions generated by the NE cells, and speculate on some actions of selected NE cells.

Schistosomiasis in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Iraq.

The incidence of schistosomiasis, a parasitic infestation caused by trematodes, or flukes, has decreased significantly in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. The education of people in the countryside is a primary reason. The water supply in these countries is now good, and, in most areas, women no longer use the stagnant river tributaries for washing clothes.

Characterization of the cell-specific expression of parathyroid hormone-related protein in normal and neoplastic prostate tissue.

Objectives: Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is a primary factor in the pathogenesis of malignancy-associated hypercalcemia. By alternative splicing, the human PTHrP gene can generate three different species of mRNA that encode three initial translational isoforms of 139, 173, and 141 amino acids. We recently reported that PTHrP was present in normal prostatic neuroendocrine cells and was overexpressed in prostate cancer tissue as demonstrated by immunostaining.

DNA cytometry and chromosome 9 aberrations by fluorescence in situ hybridization of irrigation specimens from bladder cancer patients.

Objectives: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of combining fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) measurement of chromosome 9 and DNA cytometry of bladder irrigation specimens in the detection of bladder cancer.

Methods: Bladder irrigation specimens were obtained from 37 normal control patients and 317 bladder cancer patients during cystoscopic examinations. Bladder cancer patients were sampled in the absence of observable tumor (256 specimens) and concurrently with tumor (204 specimens).

Pathophysiology of clinical varicoceles in infertile men.

In infertile men, clinical varicoceles most often occur bilaterally. In our experience with these patients, both testicles are smaller than normal. We find more than 25% to 35% immature and tapered sperm in in the ejaculum of these men, and the motility of the sperm is usually low.