The Mediating Effect of Spiritual Well-Being and Quality of Life for Persons with Parkinson's Disease in Northern Taiwan.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD), a degenerative disease with irreversible motor dysfunction, impacts patients' quality of life (QoL). Spirituality can provide a sense of hope and meaning when individuals are faced with adverse life events, such as a diagnosis of PD. However, few studies have examined the relationship between spiritual well-being and QoL for persons with PD.

Poor functional recovery may indicate restenosis in patients after coronary angioplasty.

Objective: To investigate whether poor response to exercise training can detect restenosis in asymptomatic patients after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: A hospital-based outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program in Taiwan.

Improvement of cardiorespiratory function after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a 3-mo training program for patients with either a percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) or a coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Design: Forty-four patients participated in a 3-mo outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program. Graded exercise tests with gas analysis were conducted before and after training to evaluate the changes of cardiorespiratory function.