The management of breakthrough cancer pain--educational needs a European nursing survey.

Poorly managed cancer pain is well known to profoundly impact the patient's daily life and interfere with quality of life. Nurses who cared for patients with cancer from 12 European countries participated in a survey of breakthrough cancer pain practice. The purpose was to investigate how nurses assess breakthrough cancer pain, use of standardised tools, confidence in supporting patients and awareness of medications.

How nurses assess breakthrough cancer pain, and the impact of this pain on patients' daily lives--results of a European survey.

Purpose: To increase our knowledge of how nurses assess breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP); and whether they find it difficult to distinguish BTCP from background pain; how they estimate the impact of BTCP on patients' daily lives, and the factors that nurses consider to induce BTCP. Variations in their use of assessment tools and their ability to distinguish between different types of pain were also examined in terms of the number of years of oncology nursing experience and the practice in different countries.

Methods: In total, 1241 nurses (90% female) who care for patients with cancer, from 12 European countries, completed a survey questionnaire.

A European survey of oncology nurse breakthrough cancer pain practices.

Purpose Of The Research: Breakthrough cancer pain (BTCP) is a prevalent type of pain in which the nurse can play an important role in improving patients' pain symptoms and overall well-being. Nurses' experience with BTCP (number of patients, and estimates of severity and frequency), the treatment of BTCP (pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments normally used), ratings of the importance of treatment factors, and reasons given for not advising patients to take strong painkillers are presented in the present paper.

Methods And Sample: Nurses from 12 European countries, who cared for patients with cancer, took part in a survey.

Changes in the aging rat retina.

To characterize aging as a factor responsible for structural changes, the retinae of 47 Wistar-derived albino rats and 50 pigmented rats of the Norway and BDE (Han) strains between the ages of 1 and 36 months were examined by light and electron microscopy and analyzed for changes in cell densities. In all 3 rats strains there was an overall decline in nuclear densities of outer layer nuclei by 38-50% and inner layer nuclei by 27-33% between the ages of 1 and 27 months. Over the same age range, the ganglion cell loss was comparable to the decline in the inner nuclear layer.

Calcified foci at the junction between adrenal cortex and medulla of rhesus monkeys.

The occurrence of calcified foci at the junction of adrenal medulla and cortex in monkeys obtained from toxicity studies during a 10-year period is reported. The survey included reinvestigated adrenal samples from 274 male and 270 female rhesus monkeys and 52 male and 52 female cynomolgus monkeys. The incidence of calcified foci was 46% in male and 45% in female rhesus monkeys, and 6% in male cynomolgus monkeys, while their females did not show the lesion.

Long distance image transfer: first results of its use in histopathological diagnosis.

Histopathological images were transferred by use of normal telephone lines between three pathology institutes located in three different cities in the FRG. Images were digitized using a colour TV camera and stored in a special computerized image transmission system. The stored image was transferred and visualized on a (receiver) colour TV screen after dialing the telephone number connected to the receiver image transmission system.

Age-related retinal changes--comparison between albino and pigmented rats.

To characterize aging as a factor responsible for structural changes the retinae of 47 Wistar-derived albino rats and 50 pigmented rats of the Norway and BDE (Han) strains between the ages of 1 and maximal 36 month were examined by light and electronmicroscopy and analysed for changes in cell densities. In all 3 rat strains there was an overall decline in nuclear densities of outer layer nuclei by 38 - 50% and inner layer nuclei by 27 - 33% between the ages of 1 and 27 months. Over the same age-range the ganglion cell loss was comparable to the decline in the inner nuclear layer.

The ERG as a complementary diagnostic tool in ophthalmoscopy in albino rats.

Using light induced retinal damage in albino rats as a model, the time of occurrence of lesions was investigated by ophthalmoscopy, electroretinography and light microscopy. Changes in the electroretinogram correlated well with histopathological lesions in the first retinal neuron. In contrast, ophthalmoscopy revealed no evidence of retinal damage even at a time, when the animals were apparently blind.

A contribution to indirect ophthalmotonometry in beagles.

A test of suitability of the electroimpression tonometer from Fritz Schwarzer GmbH, Munich, for measuring intraocular pressure in dogs was performed. Intraocular pressure of 63 clinically healthy English beagles was measured in both eyes using the instrument with different plunger weights. Intraocular pressure and volume of corneal depression during measurement were determined as a function of the plunger weight from readings on the tonometer with the aid of Friedenwald's tables (2).

Benign melanoma of the choroid in a beagle: ophthalmological, light and electron microscopical investigations.

A pigmented choroidal tumor was diagnosed in a 13-month-old male beagle. The tumor was observed ophthalmoscopically over a period of seven years. Light and electron microscopical features are those of a benign melanocytic tumor with marked histological similarities to uveal nevus in man.

[Operation on a congenital cataract in a Siberian Tiger].

A cataract operation in a young Siberian tiger is reported. This 5-month-old tiger, presenting with blindness, showed bilateral residual pupillary membranes and anterior polar cataracts combined with nuclear cataracts. After unilateral intracapsular extraction of the lens, the tiger adapted well to the improvement in sight and behaved almost like an animal with normal vision.

Fixation-induced cyst-like spaced in the brains of rabbit foetuses.

During teratologic trials, routine investigations of 4261 brains from rabbit foetuses, fixed in Bouin's solution and sectioned by Wilson's free-hand razor blade technique, revealed cyst-like spaces in the brains of 164 foetuses (3.8%). The cyst-like spaces, characterised by the absence of an epithelial or endothelial lining, were usually solitary and occurred mainly in the massa intermedia of the thalamus.

Carcinogenicity study of lindane in the mouse.

Linadane (gamma-BHC) was investigated for its possible carcinogenic effect on 500 mice (250 males, 250 females) of the Chbi: NMRI (SPF) strain in a study lasting 80 weeks. A substance-related production of tumours was not evident at the dosage levels employed (12.5, 25 and 50 ppm).

Aberrant nerve fibre bundles in the retina of the dog.

Systematic ophthalmoscopic examinations of 2511 Beagles, test animals in 72 long-term toxicological studies, showed archiform thin white stripes in the fundi of 98 animals (3.9%). The stripes occurred in one or both eyes in the non-tapetal fundus of the two lower quadrants.

[Occurrence of spontaneous tumours in the rat strain Chbb: THOM (SPF) (author's transl)].

400 albin rats (200 male, 200 female) of the strain Chbb: THOM (SPF) were investigated for the occurrence of spontaneous tumours over a period of almost three years. On day 750 of the study 78% of the male and 84% of the female animals were still alive. In 295 tumour hosts (73.

Pupillometric studies in the beagle dog.

A method of measuring pupillary diameter in the dog using a Kowa RC-2 fundus camera, to which an eyepiece graticule had been fitted, is described. Pupil diameter was measured either directly by reading off from the calibrated graticule or from photographs. The pupillary diameters of 105 (53 male, 52 female) untreated English beagles aged between 8 and 32 months were measured under light intensities of 150-200 lux and 1000-1400 lux.

A contribution to the question of the possible hepatocarcinogenic effects of lindane.

The possible hepatocarcinogenic effect of lindane was studied in an 80-week study using 500 NMRI mice (strain Chbi : NMRI (SPF)). After giving doses of 12.5, 25 and 50 ppm in the food no compound-induced liver tumours were observed.