Emotional Intelligence and Delivering Bad News: The Jury is Still Out.

Background: Emotional intelligence (EQ) has been proposed to be a critical competency necessary for complex and interpersonal interactions for healthcare providers.

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine how EQ impacts surgical residents' ability to deliver bad news.

Method: Residents participated in a patient death simulation, and instructed to disclose the news to the patient's sister.

A Cross-Specialty Examination of Resident Error Disclosure and Communication Skills Using Simulation.

Background: Disclosure of medical errors is important to patients and physicians, but formal disclosure training during the graduate medical education curriculum is limited.

Objective: We examined resident competence related to error disclosure, using standardized patient (SP) ratings of resident communication skills.

Methods: All first-year residents from medicine, radiology, emergency medicine, orthopedic surgery, and neurological surgery completed a 20-minute simulated session in which they were provided background information on a medical error they had made and were asked to disclose the error to an SP acting as a family member.

Evaluation of curcumin, a natural product in turmeric, on Burkitt lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia cancer stem cell markers.

Aim: Curcumin, a bioactive compound from turmeric, eliminates cancer stem cells (CSCs) in some cancers. This study evaluates the effects of curcumin on CSC markers in Burkitt lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia cells.

Methods: Cells were treated with increasing concentrations of curcumin, followed by an ALDEFLUOR assay, colony formation assay and western blot analysis for the CSC-associated proteins, Gli-1, Notch-1 and Cyclin D1.

Sulforaphane enhances the anticancer activity of taxanes against triple negative breast cancer by killing cancer stem cells.

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) typically exhibits rapid progression, high mortality and faster relapse rates relative to other breast cancer subtypes. In this report we examine the combination of taxanes (paclitaxel or docetaxel) with a breast cancer stem cell (CSC)-targeting agent sulforaphane for use against TNBC. We demonstrate that paclitaxel or docetaxel treatment induces IL-6 secretion and results in expansion of CSCs in TNBC cell lines.

Acute health effects of accidental chlorine gas exposure.

Objectives: This study was conducted to report the course of an accidental release of chlorine gas that occurred in a factory in Gumi-si, South Korea, on March 5, 2013. We describe the analysis results of 2 patients hospitalized because of chlorine-induced acute health problems, as well as the clinical features of 209 non-hospitalized patients.

Methods: We analyzed the medical records of the 2 hospitalized patients admitted to the hospital, as well as the medical records and self-report questionnaires of 209 non-hospitalized patients completed during outpatient treatment.

Effects of smoking cessation on airflow obstruction and quality of life in asthmatic smokers.

Purpose: Smoking elicits airway inflammation and airflow obstruction in patients with asthma, even after smoking cessation. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of smoking cessation on lung function and quality of life (QOL) in asthmatic patients.

Methods: Thirty-two patients with asthma who were active smokers were recruited.

Improvement of photovoltaic efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell by introducing highly transparent nanoporous TiO2 buffer layer.

13 nm-sized highly-dispersible TiO2 nanoparticle was synthesized by solvothermal reaction of titanium isopropoxide in a basic condition with tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH). The prepared TiO2 nanoparticle was applied to fabrication of the transparent nanoporous TiO2 layer with 1.2 microm-thickness.

Association of serum leptin and adiponectin with obesity in asthmatics.

Background: Mounting evidence implicates obesity as a major risk factor for asthma. Leptin and adiponectin produced by fat tissues play a critical role in the regulation of body weight and allergic inflammation.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of leptin and adiponectin on development of asthma.

Formation of efficient dye-sensitized solar cells by introducing an interfacial layer of long-range ordered mesoporous TiO2 thin film.

Long-range ordered cubic mesoporous TiO 2 films with 300 nm thickness were fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate by evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process using F127 as a structure-directing agent. The prepared mesoporous TiO 2 film (Meso-TiO 2) was applied as an interfacial layer between the nanocrystalline TiO 2 film (NC-TiO 2) and the FTO electrode in the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). The introduction of Meso-TiO 2 increased J sc from 12.

Effect of TiO2 particle size on the performance of viologen-anchored TiO2 electrochromic device.

The effect of TiO2 particle size on the performance of the electrochromic device (ECD) has been investigated in this work by applying the TiO2 nanoparticles in 7, 15, and 30 nm sizes. The phosphonated viologen, bis(2-phosphonoethyl)-4,4'-bipyridinium dibromide, was anchored on the TiO2 surfaces for the construction of ECD. The ECD derived from 7 nm-sized TiO2 demonstrated the highest contrast ratio with high optical transparency, whereas it showed the slowest switching response.

Polymorphisms in interleukin 8 and its receptors (IL8, IL8RA and IL8RB) and association of common IL8 receptor variants with peripheral blood eosinophil counts.

Airway inflammation is a major factor in the pathogenesis of asthma. Interleukin 8 (IL8) is a potent proinflammatory cytokine that interacts with its receptors, IL8RA and IL8RB. We investigated the genetic polymorphisms in IL8, IL8RA, and IL8RB for any association with risk of asthma and peripheral blood eosinophil counts in a Korean population.

Perception of wheezing in the elderly asthmatics.

Background: In elderly asthmatics, underdiagnosis is one of the important features. The main reason for underdiagnosis is thought to be a low frequency in complaining of symptoms due to the reduction of intellectual recognition and physical activity. Among the various symptoms, wheezing is the principal clue in diagnosing bronchial asthma, and decreased complaints for wheezing are also noted in elderly asthmatics.

Increased levels of interleukin-6 are associated with lymphocytosis in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of idiopathic nonspecific interstitial pneumonia.

Local overexpression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) experimentally induces lymphocytic infiltration in the bronchial tree of rat. Among idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP), nonspecific interstitial pneumonia/fibrosis (NSIP) has an increased number of lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid when compared with usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). To reveal a relation of IL-6 with the lymphocyte infiltration of NSIP, IL-6 was measured in BAL fluids of idiopathic NSIP (n = 7), idiopathic UIP (n = 16), and normal control subjects (n = 45).

The T cell receptor subsets of lymphocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis.

Study Objective: To determine whether or not the levels of gamma/delta lymphocytes increase in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Design: Prospective data collection relating to cells in BAL fluid and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and control subjects.

Setting: A university hospital, from March 1990 to December 1993.

Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia/fibrosis: clinical manifestations, histologic and radiologic features.

Objectives: Customarily used classification of IPF did not satisfy a sizable group of patients with IPF that in the past had been lumped with UIP and now currently has begun to be recognized as nonspecific interstitial pneumonia/fibrosis (NIP). There are few reports about the clinical features of NIP.

Methods: The pathologic slides of 66 patients having open lung biopsy (OLB) for the differential diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases (ILD) from 1984 to 1995 were reviewed.

Clinical features of interstitial lung diseases.

Objectives: Interstitial lung diseases (ILD) are heterogeneous groups of disorders that involve the interstitium of the lung. Lung biopsy is mandatory in most cases of ILD for diagnosis. In Korea, a few clinical data about ILD were analyzed on the basis of pathologic proof.

[Occurrence of tertian malaria in a male patient who has never been abroad].

Malaria is estimated to have a worldwide incidence of more than 100 million clinical cases and approximately 1 million deaths per year. Korea, although previously known as an endemic area of tertian malaria (Plasmodium vivax), has been considered free from malaria as there had been no report on indigenous cases since 1984. Recently, however, we experienced an indigenous case of P.

The Bio-Rad Diamat Analyser: an automated liquid chromatography system for haemoglobin A 1c (HbA 1c) determination.

The measurement of glycosylated haemoglobin is a relatively new clinical tool, the assays for their determination having become increasingly available since their introduction in the late seventies. The clinical usefulness of these assays in the long-term monitoring of diabetics, especially the pregnant diabetics, appears to be generally accepted. There remains, however, considerable confusion amongst clinicians as to their reliability and interpretation.