[Nursing assistant care at the national Hansen's disease sanatorium in Japan: focusing on "autonomy of the life field" for physically and socially challenged residents].

Previous studies on sociology and cultural anthropology insist that it is impossible to provide sufficient autonomy to clients who enroll for group care at care facilities. The purpose of this study is to analyze the nature of nursing assistant care at the national Hansen's disease sanatorium in Japan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 nursing assistants and 6 head nurses who cared for physically and socially challenged residents at this sanatorium.

Retrospective evaluation of treatment outcome in Japanese children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. Part 1: Five-year-olds' index for dental arch relationships.

Objective: To evaluate the dental arch relationships of Japanese children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and to examine the 5-year-olds' index for its validity.

Design: Retrospective study and comparison with previous reports.

Subjects: One hundred thirty-six children with complete UCLP who received primary cheiloplasty and palatoplasty in the Kyushu University Hospital from 1966 to 1999.

A longitudinal study on influence of primary facial deformities on maxillofacial growth in patients with cleft lip and palate.

Objective: The goal of this study was to use three-dimensional (3D) analysis to characterize the primary facial deformities in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and then serially analyze the relationships between facial deformities and maxillofacial growth from infancy to adolescence.

Participants: Twenty-one Japanese subjects with unilateral cleft lip and alveolus (UCLA) and 20 with UCLP who had been operated on and then followed up for more than 15 years were enrolled in this study.

Main Outcome Measures: Facial cast models taken at cheiloplasty were scanned with a 3D laser scanner.

Advanced cholangiocarcinoma in a patient with stage I primary sclerosing cholangitis.

A 29-year-old woman presented with jaundice and fever in May 2001. Cholangiography showed multiple strictures and beading of the biliary tree, with a large stricture in the common bile duct and marked dilatation of the hilar bile ducts. Typical cholangiography findings and elevated hepatobiliary enzymes suggested primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).

Relationship between primary palatal form and maxillofacial growth in Japanese children with unilateral cleft lip and palate: infancy to adolescence.

Objective: The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the relationship between the severity of maxillary defects and maxillofacial growth from infancy to adolescence in children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP).

Subjects: Thirty-one Japanese children with UCLP who had received cheiloplasty, palatoplasty, and orthodontic treatments at the Kyushu University Dental Hospital were selected.

Materials And Methods: A three-dimensional laser scanner was used to measure maxillary dental casts taken at cheiloplasty.