Management and evaluation of sodium [131I] iodide contamination after oral administration.

Radioiodine therapy using oral administration of Iodine-131 (I) is a widespread employed strategy for the treatment of hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer. Such a therapy requires well-trained staff, equipment and procedures regarding radiation safety. The aims of this work are to report an incidental experience of radioprotection with a 370 MBq sodium [I] iodide capsule, which arose following vomiting one minute after the oral administration in a nuclear medicine department and assessment of capsule leakage in a stomach like environment by in vitro experiment.

Spirituality and personality: understanding their relationship to health resilience.

A growing body of research suggests there are important relationships among spirituality, certain personality traits, and health (organismic) resilience. In the present study, 83 college students from two southeastern universities completed a demographic questionnaire, the NEO Five Factor Inventory, and the Resilience Questionnaire. The Organismic resilience and Relationship with something greater subscales of the Resilience Questionnaire were used for analyses.

Evaluating the interplay between spirituality, personality and stress.

Spirituality and the big five personality traits may be risk or protective factors for coping with stress. We hypothesized young adults who reported higher spirituality ratings would demonstrate lower sympathetic nervous system arousal and better emotional coping when exposed to a laboratory stressor compared to those who rated themselves lower in spirituality. We also compared spirituality groups on trait anger, neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and openness to experience.

Coping with stress: the effectiveness of different types of music.

Listening to classical and self-selected relaxing music after exposure to a stressor should result in significant reductions in anxiety, anger, and sympathetic nervous system arousal, and increased relaxation compared to those who sit in silence or listen to heavy metal music. Fifty-six college students, 15 males and 41 females, were exposed to different types of music genres after experiencing a stressful test. Several 4 x 2 mixed design analyses of variance were conducted to determine the effects of music and silence conditions (heavy metal, classical, or self-selected music and silence) and time (pre-post music) on emotional state and physiological arousal.

Biofeedback and cognitive coping in the treatment of pediatric habit cough.

Habit cough is a persistent "barking" cough that does not have a medical basis. The current study evaluated a biofeedback approach using skin temperature feedback with a family focus in the treatment of an 11-year-old girl diagnosed with habit cough. Treatment consisted of six, one hour sessions with the family for part of the session and then individually with the girl.

Physicians' attitude and practices in sickle cell disease pain management.

Many physicians believe that patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) are more likely to become addicted to pain medication than are other patient populations. This study hypothesizes that physicians' attitudes towards addiction in patients with SCD affects pain management practices. The Physician Attitudes Survey was sent to 286 physicians at seven National Institutes of Health-funded university-based comprehensive sickle cell centres.

The effects of different types of music on perceived and physiological measures of stress.

The effects of different types of music on perceived and physiological measures of stress were evaluated. Sixty undergraduate psychology students, 31 males and 29 females, rated their level of relaxation and completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) after they were told that they would be taking a stressful, mental test. Participants were randomly assigned to listen to different types of music or silence while skin temperature, frontalis muscle activity, and heart rate were recorded.

Optimism and psychosocial functioning in caring for children with Battens and other neurological diseases.

Psychosocial functioning was compared between 32 caregivers of children with Batten's disease, a terminal, neurodegenerative illness, and with 20 caregivers of children with epilepsy or cerebral palsy. Caregivers' optimism was expected to be associated with better psychosocial functioning, regardless of the children's illness. A multivariate analysis of covariance indicated caregivers of children with Battens disease had significantly (p<.