The attitudes of brain cancer patients and their caregivers towards death and dying: a qualitative study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Much money and energy has been spent on the study of the molecular biology of malignant brain tumours. However, little attention has been paid to the wishes of patients afflicted with these incurable tumours, and how this might influence treatment considerations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We interviewed 29 individuals – 7 patients dying of a malignant brain tumor and 22 loved ones. One-on-one interviews were conducted according to a pre-designed interview guide. A combination of open-ended questions, as well as clinical scenarios was presented to participants in order to understand what is meaningful and valuable to them when determining treatment options and management approaches. The results were analyzed, coded, and interpreted using qualitative analytic techniques in order to arrive at several common overarching themes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seven major themes were identified. In general, respondents were united in viewing brain cancer as unique amongst malignancies, due in large part to the premium placed on mental competence and cognitive functioning. Importantly, participants found their experiences, however difficult, led to the discovery of inner strength and resilience. Responses were usually framed within an interpersonal context, and participants were generally grateful for the opportunity to speak about their experiences. Attitudes towards religion, spirituality, and euthanasia were also probed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Several important themes underlie the experiences of brain cancer patients and their caregivers. It is important to consider these when managing these patients and to respect not only their autonomy but also the complex interpersonal toll that a malignant diagnosis can have.</p

First measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters using neutrinos and antineutrinos by NOvA.

The NOvA experiment has seen a 4.4σ signal of ν[over ¯]_{e} appearance in a 2&nbsp;GeV ν[over ¯]_{μ} beam at a distance of 810&nbsp;km. Using 12.33×10^{20} protons on target delivered to the Fermilab NuMI neutrino beamline, the experiment recorded 27 ν[over ¯]_{μ}→ν[over ¯]_{e} candidates with a background of 10.3 and 102 ν[over ¯]_{μ}→ν[over ¯]_{μ} candidates. This new antineutrino data are combined with neutrino data to measure the parameters |Δm_{32}^{2}|=2.48_{-0.06}^{+0.11}×10^{-3}  eV^{2}/c^{4} and sin^{2}θ_{23} in the ranges from (0.53-0.60) and (0.45-0.48) in the normal neutrino mass hierarchy. The data exclude most values near δ_{CP}=π/2 for the inverted mass hierarchy by more than 3σ and favor the normal neutrino mass hierarchy by 1.9σ and θ_{23} values in the upper octant by 1.6σ

Observation of seasonal variation of atmospheric multiple-muon events in the NOvA Near Detector

Using two years of data from the NOvA Near Detector at Fermilab, we report a seasonal variation of cosmic ray induced multiple-muon (Nμ≥2) event rates which has an opposite phase to the seasonal variation in the atmospheric temperature. The strength of the seasonal multiple-muon variation is shown to increase as a function of the muon multiplicity. However, no significant dependence of the strength of the seasonal variation of the multiple-muon variation is seen as a function of the muon zenith angle, or the spatial or angular separation between the correlated muons

Clinical characteristics of children with Juvenile Systemic Sclerosis: follow-up of 23 patients in a single tertiary center

© 2007 Russo and Katsicas; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

The Disequilibrium of Nucleosomes Distribution along Chromosomes Plays a Functional and Evolutionarily Role in Regulating Gene Expression

To further understand the relationship between nucleosome-space occupancy (NO) and global transcriptional activity in mammals, we acquired a set of genome-wide nucleosome distribution and transcriptome data from the mouse cerebrum and testis based on ChIP (H3)-seq and RNA-seq, respectively. We identified a nearly consistent NO patterns among three mouse tissues—cerebrum, testis, and ESCs—and found, through clustering analysis for transcriptional activation, that the NO variations among chromosomes are closely associated with distinct expression levels between house-keeping (HK) genes and tissue-specific (TS) genes. Both TS and HK genes form clusters albeit the obvious majority. This feature implies that NO patterns, i.e. nucleosome binding and clustering, are coupled with gene clustering that may be functionally and evolutionarily conserved in regulating gene expression among different cell types

Eyes Are Windows to the Chinese Soul: Evidence from the Detection of Real and Fake Smiles

How do people interpret the meaning of a smile? Previous studies with Westerners have found that both the eyes and the mouth are crucial in identifying and interpreting smiles, yet less is known about Easterners. Here we reported that when asking the Chinese to judge the Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles as either real or fake, their accuracy and sensitivity were negatively correlated with their individualism scores but positively correlated with their collectivism scores. However, such correlations were found only for participants who stated the eyes to be the most useful references, but not for those who favored the mouth. Moreover, participants who favored the eyes were more accurate and sensitive than those who favored the mouth. Our results thus indicate that Chinese who follow the typical Eastern decoding process of using the eyes as diagnostic cues to identify and interpret others' facial expressions and social intentions, are particularly accurate and sensitive, the more they self-report greater collectivistic and lower individualistic values

Indoor air quality in a restaurant kitchen using margarine for deep-frying

Indoor air quality has a great impact on human health. Cooking, in particular frying, is one of the most important sources of indoor air pollution. Indoor air CO, CO2, particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations, including aldehydes, were measured in the kitchen of a small establishment where a special deep-frying margarine was used. The objective was to assess occupational exposure concentrations for cooks of such restaurants. While individual VOC and PM2.5 concentrations were measured before, during, and after frying events using active sampling, TVOC, PM10, CO, CO2, temperature, and relative humidity were continuously monitored through the whole period. VOC and aldehyde concentrations did not increase to considerable levels with deep-frying compared to the background and public indoor environment levels, whereas PM10 increased significantly (1.85 to 6.6 folds). The average PM2.5 concentration of the whole period ranged between 76 and 249 μg/m3. Hence, considerable PM exposures could occur during deep-frying with the special margarine, which might be sufficiently high to cause health effects on cooks considering their chronic occupational exposures.Dokuz Eylul University (BAP-2011.KB.SAG.017

First observations of separated atmospheric nu_mu and bar{nu-mu} events in the MINOS detector

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of nuµ and [overline nu ]µ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving Rup/downdata/Rup/downMC=0.62-0.14+0.19(stat.)±0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field nuµ and [overline nu ]µ interactions are separated. The ratio of [overline nu ]µ to nuµ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]data/R[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]MC=0.96-0.27+0.38(stat.)±0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for nuµ and [overline nu ]µ