The psychosocial impact of cancer on the elderly: a comparison with younger patients.

This report examines the psychosocial impact of cancer in 240 men according to age using a recently developed cancer-specific survey instrument. Overall, younger patients experienced more frequent or severe psychosocial and treatment-related problems than the older patients, especially in relation to work and chemotherapy. In addition, younger patients experienced more difficulty dealing with the health care setting.

Comparing physical and behavior therapy for chronic low back pain on physical abilities, psychological distress, and patients' perceptions.

A treatment-outcome study was conducted to study the impact of behavior and physical therapy on components of the chronic low back pain syndrome. Eighteen patients received behavior therapy and 15 patients received physical therapy. All patients had at least a 6-month history of seeking treatment for chronic low back pain.

Efficiency and design of simple metabolic systems.

A theoretical approach to the explanation of the structural design of metabolic pathways is presented. It is based on the hypothesis that due to natural selection during evolution the cellular metabolism of present-day organisms may be characterized by optimal properties. Two cardinal terms enter the theory: 1) the efficiency of metabolic pathways and 2) the evolutionary effort for the change of the kinetic parameters of the involved enzymes by mutations of the corresponding genes.

Exposure to fluorotrichloromethane (R-11).

Three volunteers were exposed to fluorotrichloromethane (R-11) under experimental conditions. Solvent levels in ambient and alveolar air, in blood and urine were measured. The mean concentration of R-11 in ambient air was 657 ml/m3.

A kinetic model for the interaction of energy metabolism and osmotic states of human erythrocytes. Analysis of the stationary "in vivo" state and of time dependent variations under blood preservation conditions.

A model is presented which considers in a coherent way the energy metabolism, the membrane transport as well as the osmotic and electrostatic conditions of human erythrocytes. Particular attention is paid to the simulation of the system behaviour under blood preservation conditions as well as after transfusion of erythrocytes. The model considers the main glycolytic reactions, the active and passive transport of ions and the charges and osmotic actions of permeable and nonpermeable compounds.

Mathematical models of metabolic systems: general principles and control of glycolysis and membrane transport in erythrocytes.

General methods for the mathematical modeling of metabolic systems are discussed. Attention is paid to the simulation of steady states as well as time dependent behaviour of biochemical reaction networks. Control coefficients are used for the quantitative evaluation of the parameter dependence of model variables.

[Early hemodynamic reactions of an ionic low osmolar and a nonionic contrast medium].

In eighty patients with different cardiac diseases the theoretically claimed reduced cardiovascular side effects in ionic and non-ionic low osmolar contrast media compared to those in conventional ionic and high-osmolar contrast media were tested during heart catheterization. The randomized application showed that there were only few reactions during left ventricle angiography and they did not differ between various ejections, while during selective coronary angiography in most cases heart rate and aortic pressures dropped significantly (p less than 0.05).

Living with cancer: the Cancer Inventory of Problem Situations.

With the recent improvement in cancer therapy, patients are living for extended periods of time. There is little information on the day-to-day problems that these patients experience. The paucity of such information is due to the absence of instruments specifically designed to document these problems.

Karnofsky performance status revisited: reliability, validity, and guidelines.

Little research has been conducted documenting the reliability and validity of the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scale, and guidelines based on empirical data do not exist to govern its use. Two hundred ninety-three cancer patients completed a questionnaire that assesses their physical and psychosocial difficulties. Physicians rated patients on the KPS and a subsample of 75 patients was used to evaluate interrater reliability.

The chronic illness problem inventory: problem-oriented psychosocial assessment of patients with chronic illness.

Two studies are presented which describe the development of a problem-oriented psychosocial screening instrument for use in health care settings. Reliability and validity data are presented on the Chronic Illness Problem Inventory (CIPI) which demonstrate its ability to document accurately patient's specific problems in areas of physical limitations, psychosocial functioning, health care behaviors and marital adjustment. A study is also presented which compares the problems of patients with three distinct chronic illnesses: pain, obesity, and respiratory ailments.