The effectiveness of a self-reporting bedside pain assessment tool for oncology inpatients.

Background: Pain is common during cancer treatment, and patient self-reporting of pain is an essential first step for ideal cancer pain management. However, many studies on cancer pain management report that, because pain may be underestimated, it is often inadequately managed.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of bedside self-assessment of pain intensity for inpatients using a self-reporting pain board.

A more appropriate cardiac troponin T level that can predict outcomes in end-stage renal disease patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Purpose: Cardiac troponin T (cTnT), a useful marker for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the general population, is significantly higher than the usual cut-off value in many end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients without clinically apparent evidence of AMI. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical usefulness of cTnT in ESRD patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Materials And Methods: Two hundred eighty-four ESRD patients with ACS were enrolled between March 2002 and February 2008.

Pre-treatment of mesenchymal stem cells with a combination of growth factors enhances gap junction formation, cytoprotective effect on cardiomyocytes, and therapeutic efficacy for myocardial infarction.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-treatment of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with growth factors (GFs) on cardiomyogenic differentiation, cytoprotective action on cardiomyocytes (CMCs), and their therapeutic efficacy in myocardial infarction.

Background: Mechanisms of myocardial repair with MSC transplantation have not been fully elucidated, and therapeutic efficacy needs to be enhanced.

Methods: The MSCs obtained from the bone marrow of Fisher344 rats were treated with fibroblast growth factor-2, insulin-like growth factor-1, and bone morphogenetic protein-2.