Effect of an end-of-life gerontological nursing education programme on the attitudes and knowledge of clinical nurses: A non-randomised controlled trial.

Aims: To evaluate how a structured interactive two-day education programme for clinical nurses on end-of-life (EOL) care for older people affects nurses' attitudes and knowledge.

Design: Non-randomised controlled trial.

Methods: Nurses were recruited separately for intervention and control groups.

Developing a Measure of End-of-Life Care Nursing Knowledge for Japanese Geriatric Nurses.

This study developed an end-of-life (EOL) care nursing knowledge scale for Japanese geriatric nurses (ELNKS-JG) to measure nurse knowledge of EOL care for older adults. It also was used to evaluate the quality of The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium-Japan Geriatric. Participants were 1168 nurses employed in 32 institutions across Japan.

Development of the End-of-Life Care Nursing Attitude Scale for Japanese Geriatrics.

This study aimed to develop an end-of-life (EOL) care nursing attitude scale for Japanese geriatric nurses (ELNAS-JG). The items of the ELNAS-JG were developed to cover important topics related to EOL care (eg, motivation for providing EOL care, pain and symptom management, and decision-making support care for older adults). Participants were 1663 nurses employed in 32 institutions across Japan.

Consensus development of quality indicators for end-of-life care for elders in Japan.

Aims And Objectives: Quality indicators for end-of-life care have been published; however, none have been developed specifically for nursing in the cultural and traditional context of Japan. This study aimed to develop and build a consensus of quality indicators for end-of-life care for elders in Japan from the perspective of nursing science.

Methods: To develop the quality indicators, we used a literature review, expert panel process, and the Delphi technique among clinical nurse specialists in geriatrics.

Presence of an interaction between smoking and being overweight increases risks of hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in outpatients with mood disorders.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that the presence of an interaction between smoking and being overweight increases the risks of lifestyle-related diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular disease) in outpatients with mood disorders.

Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, using data from 213 outpatients with mood disorders (95 men, 118 women), we calculated the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipedemia, and cardiovascular disease, using a binary logistic regression model; we then calculated the adjusted OR values for smokers and non-smokers with body mass indexes (BMIs) of <25 or ≥25 kg/m². Next, we examined the data for the presence of an interaction between smoking and being overweight, using three measures of additive interaction: relative excess risk due to the interaction (RERI), attributable proportion due to the interaction (AP), and the synergy index (S).

The combined unhealthy behaviors of breakfast skipping and smoking are associated with the prevalence of diabetes mellitus.

Skipping breakfast has been considered a representative unhealthy behavior, but there is little information about the combined effects of breakfast skipping and other unhealthy health habits, especially smoking. First this cross-sectional study investigated unhealthy behaviors among breakfast skippers, and then examined the impact of the combined association of skipping breakfast and smoking on health. A total of 1,200 adults living in one Japanese community were sent questionnaires to elicit data on age, gender, breakfast-eating frequency, and other lifestyle habits.

Microsatellite polymorphisms of the MICA gene among Japanese patients with Behçet's disease.

Background: Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic inflammatory disease of unknown origin. Because some researchers have recently suggested a primary association of BD with the A6 allele of the human major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related A (MICA) gene, we investigated microsatellite polymorphisms of the MICA gene in subjects with and without BD.

Methods: This was a case-control study of 23 Japanese patients with BD and 23 Japanese volunteers without BD who were compared for MICA microsatellite polymorphisms using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Research report: Frequencies of mica gene polymorphism: a comparison between Indonesians on Bacan Island and suburban Japanese.

MHC class I chain related gene A (MICA) is located near the HLA-B gene on the short arm of human chromosome 6. In the transmembrane (TM) of region of MICA, there is a trinucleotide repeat (GCT/AGC) microsatellite polymorphism in exon 5. Five alleles with 4, 5, 6 and 9 repetitions or 5 repetitions with 1 additional nucleotide insertion (GGCT) are identified and they were named A4, A5, A5.

A study among related pairs of Japanese patients with familial Behçet's disease: group comparisons by interval of disease onsets.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between clinical features and the interval between onset of disease in pairs of related Japanese patients with Behçet's disease (BD).

Methods: Questionnaires were sent to hospitals in which patients with familial occurrence of BD had been treated according to previous nationwide hospital surveys, and to an additional 341 hospitals selected at random.

Results: A total of 35 patients (19 male, 16 female) in 17 families (19 related pairs) were reported.