Inter-rater reliability of the bereavement risk assessment tool.

Objective: The Bereavement Risk Assessment Tool (BRAT) was designed to consistently communicate information affecting bereavement outcomes; to predict the risk for difficult or complicated bereavement based on information obtained before the death; to consider resiliency as well as risk; and to assist in the efficacy and consistency of bereavement service allocation. Following initial development of the BRAT's 40 items and its clinical use, this study set out to test the BRAT for inter-rater reliability along with some basic validity measures.

Method: Case studies were designed based on actual patients and families from a hospice palliative care program.

Creating social work competencies for practice in hospice palliative care.

Social workers play an important role in the delivery of Hospice Palliative Care in many diverse settings. The profession brings a unique perspective to end-of-life care that reflects and supports the holistic philosophy of Hospice Palliative Care. Despite the prominent and longstanding position of social work in this area, the role and functions of social workers had not been clearly defined.

An interdisciplinary team communication framework and its application to healthcare 'e-teams' systems design.

Background: There are few studies that examine the processes that interdisciplinary teams engage in and how we can design health information systems (HIS) to support those team processes. This was an exploratory study with two purposes: (1) To develop a framework for interdisciplinary team communication based on structures, processes and outcomes that were identified as having occurred during weekly team meetings. (2) To use the framework to guide 'e-teams' HIS design to support interdisciplinary team meeting communication.

Activities of counsellors in a hospice/palliative care environment.

This study examined activities related to the provision of psychosocial care by counsellors in the hospice/palliative care setting. A qualitative design using written reports was used in an urban Canadian hospice/palliative care program. A convenient sample of 13 counsellors indicated the activities they typically performed in their work with patients and families.

The surgical treatment of skeletal anterior open-bite deformities with rigid internal fixation in the mandible.

The rationale for the surgical correction of skeletal anterior open-bite deformities by bilateral mandibular rotation osteotomy is presented. Results of this procedure in which rigid internal fixation is used are reported and show a very high degree of long-term stability. The procedure offers a useful alternative to the more common approach of posterior maxillary intrusion, which does not always address the cosmetic defect.

Biologic and molecular characterization of the IgG serum blocking factor (SBF-IgG) isolated from sera of patients with EBV-induced infectious mononucleosis.

Our laboratory has previously reported the isolation of a serum blocking factor (SBF) from infectious mononucleosis (IM) patients. The SBF has been purified by a combination of Sephadex QAE-50 ion exchange and Sephadex G-200 molecular sieve chromatography. This material was found to be devoid of soluble immune complexes, and immunochemically and biochemically was characterized as IgG and, hence, termed SBF-IgG.

Abrogation of cell-mediated immunity by a serum blocking factor isolated from patients with infectious mononucleosis.

Lymphocytes from 80% of patients with infectious mononucleosis in this study failed to produce macrophage migration-inhibition factor in response to partially purified early antigen of Epstein-Barr virus or to tetanus toxoid, whereas lymphocytes from normal subjects did produce this lymphokine. Subsequent analysis of serum from the patients with infectious mononucleosis revealed a serum factor that completely abrogated antigen-specific inhibition of migration by human leukocytes as well as lymphocyte blastogenesis. The serum blocking factor was present in sera from 11 (73%) of 15 patients with infectious mononucleos but only in sera from two (13%) of 15 normal subjects.

Separation of the complement-fixing and early antigens from Epstein-Barr soluble antigen.

The Epstein-Barr virus-associated complement-fixing (soluble) antigen (CFSA) and the early antigen (EA) were isolated by ion-exchange chromatography from the P3HR-1 lymphoblastoid cell line activated with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine for 72 hours. As expected, these two antigens were not immunologically identical. The CFSA, but not the EA, was isolated from the RAJl lymphoblastoid cell line by the same method.

Transfers to a psychiatric emergency room: a fresh look at the dumping symdrome.

There can be considerable interinstitutional distrust regarding transfer of psychiatric patients. In 1970 the directors of all psychiatric hospitals in New York City began to meet regularly in order to define problems and work out amicable resolutions, largely by defining criteria for hospitalization, establishing correct catchment area address, etc. In order to test the success of the program, three medical centers which routinely transfer patients to a receiving hospital were studied in order to see if they misrepresented patients' psychopathology or medical problems prior to transfer.

Immunologic identification of Epstein-Barr virus early antigen in a P3HR-1 cell extract.

We extracted the Epstein-Barr soluble antigen (EBSA) from the P3HR-1 human lymphoid cell line, which carries the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), after P3HR-1 cells were activated with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine. EBSA was identified as the early antigen (EA) complex by immunodiffusion and blocking immunofluorescence tests with high-titered human antiserum to EA. The identity of the EA complex was confirmed with antiserum to EA prepared in rabbits and adsorbed to assure its immunologic specificity.