Integrating Cancer Patients’ Satisfaction with Rescue Medication in Pain Assessments

A patient’s pain intensity rating alone is insufficient grounds for determining the pain medication and dosage to administer daily. This study aimed to investigate whether a convenient assessment method could be developed that would reflect the effectiveness of an opioid analgesic on cancer patients’ pain management. We investigated pain intensity （worst, least, average, current） and the effectiveness of the opioid rescue medication in terms of patient satisfaction. This study used Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients to evaluate the relationships between patient satisfaction with rescue medication and both pain intensity and the medication’s perceived effectiveness. Data from 60 participants with a mean age of 60.5±11.4 years （range: 31-79 years） were analyzed. Thirty-eight （63.3%） participants were male, and 22 （36.7%） were female. The correlations found between rescue medication satisfaction and both the worst numerical rating scale （NRS） rating （r＝−0.15, P＝0.16） and the average NRS rating （r＝−0.13, P＝0.13） were not statistically significant. A significant positive correlation was observed between rescue medication satisfaction and the medication’s perceived effectiveness （r＝0.79, P＜0.0001）. Patient satisfaction with their rescue medication can be routinely assessed without imposing a significant burden on the patient. A new assessment method incorporating rescue medication satisfaction and pain intensity measures could allow routine pain assessments to reflect both pain intensity and the effectiveness of opioid analgesics. This new assessment method is potentially preferable to self-reported pain intensity and can identify patients for whom treatment is a priority. It also facilitates rapid dose adjustments and reduces the side effects of overdose due to unnecessary increases in opioid analgesics

Exploring autistic-like traits relating to empathic attitude and psychological distress in hospital pharmacists

BACKGROUND: Pharmacists are expected to play a key role in modern cancer care. Research suggests that an empathic approach and attitude in medical staff improves the quality of patient care. An empathic attitude and psychological distress are thought to be associated with autistic-like traits, but little is known about such traits. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to clarify the associations among autistic-like traits, empathic attitude in a medical context, and psychological health in hospital pharmacists. SETTING: Eligibility criteria for inclusion were certified pharmacists working at hospitals for patient care who returned their questionnaires. METHOD: Eight hundred and twenty-three hospital pharmacists completed a number of self-administered questionnaires anonymously by mail. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Scores were obtained on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the General Health Questionnaire-12, and subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Perspective Taking, IRI-Empathic Concern, IRIPersonal Distress). We performed correlation and mediation analyses to confirm that the empathy and general health questionnaires were associated with autism-spectrum quotient scores, and with each IRI subscale. RESULTS: Complete responses were obtained from 379 pharmacists comprising 151 males (39.8 %) with a mean age of 37.7 ± 10.8 years (missing data, n = 13) and a median of 11 years after qualification as a pharmacist. Autism-Spectrum Quotient scores were inversely correlated with empathy (r = -0.22, p < 0.001) and positively correlated with general health scores (r = 0.40, p < 0.001). In the models with mediation, the inverse correlation between autism-spectrum quotient and empathy scores was mediated indirectly by IRI-Perspective Taking and IRI-Empathic Concern, and the positive correlation between autism-spectrum quotient and general health was mediated indirectly by IRI-Personal Distress. There were also direct effects, with significant effects of autism-spectrum quotient on empathy and general health scores. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that autistic-like traits affect both empathic attitude in a medical context and the psychological health of pharmacists. We recommend that to improve empathy in those with high levels of autistic-like traits, we may need to develop specialized interventions, such as improving communication skills training

First Data Release of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program

The Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) is a three-layered imaging survey aimed at addressing some of the most outstanding questions in astronomy today, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The survey has been awarded 300 nights of observing time at the Subaru Telescope and it started in March 2014. This paper presents the first public data release of HSC-SSP. This release includes data taken in the first 1.7 years of observations (61.5 nights) and each of the Wide, Deep, and UltraDeep layers covers about 108, 26, and 4 square degrees down to depths of i~26.4, ~26.5, and ~27.0 mag, respectively (5sigma for point sources). All the layers are observed in five broad bands (grizy), and the Deep and UltraDeep layers are observed in narrow bands as well. We achieve an impressive image quality of 0.6 arcsec in the i-band in the Wide layer. We show that we achieve 1-2 per cent PSF photometry (rms) both internally and externally (against Pan-STARRS1), and ~10 mas and 40 mas internal and external astrometric accuracy, respectively. Both the calibrated images and catalogs are made available to the community through dedicated user interfaces and database servers. In addition to the pipeline products, we also provide value-added products such as photometric redshifts and a collection of public spectroscopic redshifts. Detailed descriptions of all the data can be found online. The data release website is https://hsc-release.mtk.nao.ac.jp/.Comment: 34 pages, 20 figures, 7 tables, moderate revision, accepted for publication in PAS

The Physics of the B Factories

This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C

The Hyper Suprime-Cam SSP survey: Overview and survey design

Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) is a wide-field imaging camera on the prime focus of the 8.2-m Subaru telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. A team of scientists from Japan, Taiwan, and Princeton University is using HSC to carry out a 300-night multi-band imaging survey of the high-latitude sky. The survey includes three layers: the Wide layer will cover 1400 deg2 in five broad bands (grizy), with a 5 σ point-source depth of r ≈ 26. The Deep layer covers a total of 26 deg2 in four fields, going roughly a magnitude fainter, while the UltraDeep layer goes almost a magnitude fainter still in two pointings of HSC (a total of 3.5 deg2). Here we describe the instrument, the science goals of the survey, and the survey strategy and data processing. This paper serves as an introduction to a special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, which includes a large number of technical and scientific papers describing results from the early phases of this survey

Features of emotional experiences in the situation arousing the feeling of gratitude

本研究の目的は,感謝が生じやすい状況と生じにくい状況を明らかにした上で,それらの状況における感謝の感情体験の違いを検討することであった。482 名の日本人大学生を対象とする調査の結果,感謝が生じやすい状況は,他者から直接支援を受けるような状況や,他者に負荷がかかることで間接的に支援を受けるような状況であることが示された。これに対して,個人をとりまく状態が好転するような状況や,一見大きな変化のない平穏な状況では,感謝が生じにくいことが示された。さらに,感謝が生じやすい状況では,感謝の肯定的内容(満足感)と非肯定的内容(申し訳なさ)がいずれもある程度強く経験されているのに対して,感謝が生じにくい状況では,そのうちどちらかが経験されていなかったり,どちらの感情体験も弱いことが明らかとなった

Types of Situations Arousing Gratitude : Classification by difference of emotional experiences

The purpose of this study was to classify the situations arousing gratitude. 425 undergraduate students were presented with 10 types of situations that give rise to feelings of gratitude. They recorded scales of the 3 groups of emotional experiences: contentment, apologetic emotion, and unpleasantness. Cluster analysis revealed that situations were clustered into 5 groups: (a) imposing on others: situations that one is indirectly-helped by others, (b) receiving help: situations in which one is helped when in trouble, (c) receiving gifts: situations in which one receive a gift when not in trouble, (d) good condition: situations in which one's surroundings are good for them, (e) knowing about other's distress: situations in which one knows other's bad condition. In addition, results of ANOVAs showed that the strength of emotional experiences differed by the type of situation

The relationship between collective guilt and the group identification among university students

内集団成員による外集団に損害を与える行為について, 自分が直接その行為に関わっていなくても自責の念や申し訳なさを感じることは日常生活の中で経験しうることである。自分自身の行為でなくても感じる罪悪感として, 集合罪悪感がある。本研究では大学生を対象に,日常生活の中で内集団成員が外集団に損害を与えたという状況を用いて集合罪悪感と集団同一性の関連について検討した。集団同一性には集団全体に対する同一性(Whole-group 同一性) と行為集団に対する同一性(Subgroup 同一性)があることが先行研究で指摘されているため,それぞれの同一性を測定した。先行研究と同様に, Whole-group 同一性とSubgroup 同一性が独立して集合罪悪感に影響を及ぼしていることが示された。また先行研究とは異なり,集団同一性から集合罪悪感,個人罪悪感についての影響を正当性認知が媒介するという結果は得られず, 個人の有責性認知が集合罪悪感への影響を媒介するという結果であった