Radiotherapy-related complications presenting to a urology department: a more common problem than previously thought?

Objective: To quantify the burden of the side effects of radiotherapy on a tertiary referral urology department.

Patients And Methods: A prospective study of all urology admissions to a public urology department at a tertiary hospital in a 6-month period was performed. Patients admitted with complications attributable to radiotherapy were included in the study.

Effect of a qigong intervention program on telomerase activity and psychological stress in abused Chinese women: a randomized, wait-list controlled trial.

Background: Abused women, who suffer from chronic psychological stress, have been shown to have shorter telomeres than never abused women. Telomere shortening is associated with increased risk of cell death, and it is believed that adopting health-promoting behaviors can help to increase the activity of telomerase, an enzyme that counters telomere shortening. Qigong is an ancient Chinese mind-body integration, health-oriented practice designed to enhance the function of qi, an energy that sustains well-being.

Extreme sports: extreme physiology. Exercise-induced pulmonary oedema.

We report five patients who presented to an on-site medical team with concurrent haemoptysis and shortness of breath at a recent triathlon event. After initial management in the field, three of the five patients were transported to hospital via ambulance for further management, resulting in patients with haemoptysis and dyspnoea being 17 times more likely to require hospital transport. It is important to consider the differential diagnoses for this presentation, particularly exercise-induced pulmonary oedema.

Enhancing quality of life in people with disordered eating using an online self-help programme.

Background: Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that have a significant effect on afflicted individuals' quality of life. Evidence has shown that they can be improved with treatment. Internet-based interventions are useful in engaging individuals with eating disorders in self-management and treatment.

Eating disorders, parent-child conflicts, and family therapy in Shenzhen, China.

In this article, I report the results of a qualitative study conducted in Shenzhen, China, in which I aimed to (a) identify the characteristics of parent-child conflicts between Shenzhen youths suffering from eating disorders and their parents and (b) contextualize these intergenerational conflicts to understand their meanings within the immediate sociocultural context. I have employed multiple-case studies as the research design. Data have been collected through reviews of the family treatment sessions for ten families, each with an adolescent daughter suffering from eating disorders, and with the session being videotaped with written consent from the youths and the families.

Unwrapping the box: dancing with the clients.

The authors describe the case of a girl suffering from anorexia nervosa who was regarded as a great challenge by her family therapist in Hong Kong. The metaphor of unwrapping a box was adopted to describe the therapeutic strategy of helping the girl express her inner feelings, and of helping the parents listen to their daughter describe her pain and suffering in the presence of the therapist. Health care professionals have to lead the dance, creating a space where their clients can share their secrets with their family and their therapist.

Daughter praising, mother bashing: a case study from Hong Kong.

In this paper, we present the case of a mother and daughter in family therapy. We call for a critical examination of Western literature that describes how a mother praises her child. I illustrate how one observer (the first author) perceives the issue of maternal praise differently from other observers.

Family themes of food refusal: disciplining the body and punishing the family.

A problematic issue in studying anorexia nervosa (AN) has been the absence of a qualitative study that probes the deep meanings of food refusal. We attempt to close this gap by studying the family meanings of food refusal by a single case study of a family in Hong Kong with an AN daughter. Eight videotapes of family therapy sessions, each lasting 90 minutes, were intensively reviewed, transcribed verbatim, and content analyzed.