A qualitative research of adolescents with behavioral problems about their experience in a dialectical behavior therapy skills training group.

Background: Several quantitative studies support the effectiveness of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) psychosocial skills training group component for adolescents with impulse-control disorder and/or emotional dysregulation. However, qualitative research to assess this psychotherapeutic tool in the adolescent population is sparse. This study aims to examine the subjective experience of adolescents with behavioral issues who have completed DBT skills training group, as well as using this experience to extract hypotheses regarding its usefulness which can then be verified at a later time by means of quantitative instruments.

Comparison of the long-term prognostic value of peak exercise oxygen pulse and peak oxygen uptake in patients with chronic heart failure.

Objective: To evaluate the ratio of peak oxygen consumption to peak heart rate (peak oxygen pulse) as a predictor of long term prognosis in chronic heart failure.

Patients And Setting: 178 consecutive heart failure patients recruited to the cardiology department of a tertiary referral centre between 1986 and 1993.

Design: Bicycle ergometry with measurement of respiratory exchange.

Brain surgery: a guide for patients and families.

Both patients and families require helpful information, skills and support throughout the hospitalization for craniotomy surgery to ensure effective coping patterns. Research has demonstrated that patients who have participated in successful teaching programmes exhibit less anxiety and develop a more positive perception of their health care experience. The purpose of this paper is to examine the development, content, implementation and evaluation of a multimedia educational programme, designed to respond to the identified learning needs of the preoperative craniotomy patients and families.

[Treatment by angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors after myocardial infarction. What did the clinical trials teach us?].

Most clinical trials of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors after myocardial infarction have shown an improved outcome with reduction of morbidity and mortality. In comparable groups of patients, the results are concordant with a decrease in mortality which is all the more significant and early in severe infarction with serious haemodynamic consequences. The clinician has a new arm in his therapeutic arsenal either for use in the acute phase of all cases of myocardial infarction but for only a short period of 4 to 6 weeks after which the treatment is withdrawn when the anatomical sequellae are more moderate, or for use in selected cases for longer periods (patients with severe infarction with cardiac failure and/or severe left ventricular dysfunction).

Pentoxifylline selectivity inhibits tumor necrosis factor synthesis in the arterial wall.

Pentoxifylline (PTX) has been reported to potentially inhibit tumor necrosis factor (TNF) synthesis by monocytes/macrophages. Because inflammatory processes involve both leukocytes and vascular cells, we tested the effects of PTX on TNF and interleukin-6 (IL-6) production by the vessel wall in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Rings of rat thoracic aorta were incubated for 24 h in DMEM containing antibiotics and 1% fetal calf serum in the presence of 1 microgram/ml LPS.