Impact of cancer on psychosexuality: cultural perspectives of Asian women.

Cancers and related treatments have devastating effects on psychosexual life of patients. This study helps us to understand the cultural perspectives of 50 Asian women diagnosed with cancer. Median age was 50+ years.

Cultural health beliefs in a rural family practice: a Malaysian perspective.

Background: Understanding the sociocultural dimension of a patient's health beliefs is critical to a successful clinical encounter. Malaysia with its multi-ethnic population of Malay, Chinese and Indian still uses many forms of traditional health care in spite of a remarkably modern rural health service.

Objective: The objective of this paper is discuss traditional health care in the context of some of the cultural aspects of health beliefs, perceptions and practices in the different ethnic groups of the author's rural family practices.

Collusion In Palliative Care.

Collusion is generally an act of love and protection for a close relative from knowing the bad news with regard to diagnosis and prognosis of his/her illness. Evidence from research studies showed that although truth hurts, deceit may well hurt more. Filial duties and obligations form the basis for non disclosure in some cultures while principles of informed consent and patient autonomy are ethical and legal obligations to provide patients with as much information as possible in some countries.

Antiplasmodial activity of ferrocenyl chalcones: investigations into the role of ferrocene.

A series of ferrocenyl chalcones were synthesized and evaluated in vitro against Plasmodium falciparum (K1) in a [3H] hypoxanthine uptake assay. Appropriate size, electronic, lipophilic and electrochemical parameters were determined for QSAR analysis. The results showed that the location of ferrocene influenced the ease of oxidation of Fe2+ in ferrocene and the polarity of the carbonyl linkage.

Electrochemically generated super-hydrophilic surfaces.

The control of surface wettability of indium tin oxide (In2O3-SnO2) coated glass surfaces is studied. We report here the first observation of purely electrochemical generation of super-hydrophilic surfaces at In2O3-SnO2 electrodes in the absence of an ultraviolet illumination source. This is achieved by the application of high anodic potentials for a prolonged period.

Speciation analysis of tellurium by solid-phase extraction in the presence of ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

Under acidic conditions tellurium(IV) formed a complex with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC). The tellurium(IV) complex was completely retained on a non-polar Isolute silica-based octadecyl (C(18)) sorbent-containing solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, while the uncomplexed Te(VI) passed through the cartridge and remained as a free species in the solution. Only partial Te(IV) was retained on the SPE cartridge for samples without addition of APDC.

Studies of sol-gel ceramic film incorporating methylene blue on glassy carbon: an electrocatalytic system for the simultaneous determination of ascorbic and uric acids.

In this work, we investigated the immobilization of methylene blue in a methyltrimethoxysilane sol-gel ceramic film on a glassy carbon electrode. Up to a certain saturation level, under our conditions, it was found that the methylene blue was tightly held and did not leach out into aqueous solutions, even with continuous immersion for up to 1 month. The electrochemical behavior of the immobilized methylene blue was then studied.

Antimony speciation by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry using solid phase extraction cartridges.

A novel and simple method for inorganic antimony speciation is described based on selective solid phase extraction (SPE) separation of antimony(III) and highly sensitive inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (ICP-MS) detection of total antimony and antimony(V) in the aqueous phase of the sample. Non-polar SPE cartridges, such as the Isolute silica-based octyl (C8) sorbent-containing cartridge, selectively retained the Sb(III) complex with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), while the uncomplexed Sb(V) remained as a free species in the solution and passed through the cartridge. The Sb(III) concentration was calculated as the difference between total antimony and Sb(V) concentrations.