The effects of logotherapy on meaning in life and quality of life of late adolescents with terminal cancer

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a logotherapy program entitled 'Finding meaning in my life' for adolescents with terminal cancer. Methods: A nonequivalent control group, non-synchronized design was conducted with a convenience sample of 44 late adolescents with terminal cancer. The experimental group (n=22) participated in the 'Finding meaning in my life' program which consisted of five-day sessions for one week. The control group (n=22) received the usual nursing care. The effects were measured using adolescent meaning in life (AMIL), and quality of life (QOL) scales. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and t-test using SPSS/PC 17.0 program. Results: There were significant differences in AMIL (t=3.36, p<.05) and QOL (t=2.67, p<.05) between the experimental and control groups. Conclusion: Logotherapy is effective in improving the meaning in life and quality of life of late adolescents with terminal cancer, and can be used to prevent existential distress

Comparison of bare metal stent and paclitaxel-eluting stent using a novel rat aorta stent model

The purpose of our study was to create a novel rat aorta stent implantation model. Stainless steel bare metal stents (BMS) or paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) were implanted in male Sprague-Dawley rats (BW 400 ± 20 g). Two and four weeks after stent implantation, the aorta were collected, fixed with 2% glutaraldehyde, and cut into two segments. One segment was used for scanning electron microscopy analysis to evaluate re-endothelialization, and the other segment was used to calculate the neointimal area. At 2 weeks after stenting, the appearance of neointimal hyperplasia was less in the PES group than in the BMS group. At 4 weeks after stenting, no significant difference in neointimal hyperplasia was observed between two groups. On the other hand, the PES group showed more thrombus formation and less re-endothelialization compared to the BMS group. This study demonstrated the ability of a novel rat model of aorta stenting via a common carotid artery to measure the efficacy and safety of commercially available drug-eluting stents

Limited Effect of CpG ODN in Preventing Type 1 Diabetes in NOD Mice

Type 1 diabetes is considered as Th1 cell mediated autoimmune disease and the suppression of Th1 cells or the activation of Th2 cells has been regarded as a plausible immunologic intervention for the prevention of type 1 diabetogenesis in a rodent model. CpG ODN is an immunostimulatory sequence primarily present in bacterial DNA, viral DNA and BCG. CpG ODN is conventionally classified as a Th1 cell activator, which has been clinically applied to cancer, allergy and infectious disease. Recently, there was a promising report of that CpG ODN administration suppressed the development of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice by inducing Th2 cell mediated cytokine. However, the antidiabetogenic effect of CpG ODN on NOD mice is controversial. Thus, two studies were serially undertaken with various kinds of CpG motif to find a more optimal sequence and administration method. In the first study, CpG ODN was vaccinated four times and pancreatic inflammation and the quantity of serum insulin subsequently evaluated. In the second study, the amounts of IFN γ and IL-4 in sera were measured as representative cytokines of Th1 and Th2 cells, respectively. As a result, vaccination or continuous injection of CpG ODN failed to show a preventive effect on type 1 diabetogenesis in NOD mice. Structural differences of CpG ODN also had no affect on the result. CpG ODN also consistently showed affect on the pancreatic pathology. The productions of IFN and IL-4 were γ detected only in the K and D type CpG ODN administration groups. Comparison of the two cytokines leads to the conclusion that CpG ODN generated a Th1-weighted response in both study groups. It was assumed that CpG ODN failed to produce Th2-weighted cytokine milieu, which can overcome the genetically determined phenotype of NOD mice. Given these results, it was concluded that the immunotherapeutic application of CpG ODN on Type 1 diabetes had clear limitations

A Correlation between Low Back Pain and Associated Factors: A Study Involving 772 Patients who Had Undergone General Physical Examination

Many factors are associated with the development of low back pain. Among them, exercise, obesity, smoking, age, educational level and stress are the most common. This study examined the association of these factors with low back pain. An additional aim was to determine a procedure for preventing low back pain. This study analyzed the responses to a questionnaire sent to 772 individuals who had undergone a medical examination at this hospital in 2003 and excluded the individuals who had shown symptoms or their test results indicated a particular disease. Assuming that there were no variables, individuals who exercised regularly 3-4 times per week would have a lower chance of having low back pain than those who did not exercise regularly. The analysis revealed that individuals with a college degree or higher education have a lower chance of experiencing low back pain than those with only a high school education or even college drop-outs. When the other variables were constant, age, extent of obesity (body mass index), smoking and level of stress were not found to affect the development of low back pain. The level of education was associated with the development of low back pain. However, regular exercise 3-4 times per week or more would be most effective in reducing the incidence and duration of low back pain

Development of the reinforced acrylic-based hybrid denture composite resin with vinyloligosilsesquioxane(POSS)

The mainly used polymeric material for the denture is PMMA because of its cost and easiness to handle. So it was widely used material among dentists for past decades. But the acrylic-based denture materials have several common weak points such as shrinkage after curing and lack of strength. In order to solve these problems, we adapted one of hybrid system using acrylic polymer and vinyloligosilsesquioxane(POSS). POSS, which is a well known expandable monomer during polymerization process, may eventually suppress volumetric shrinkage. And the hybrid system makes it possible for the polymer to be stable in various severe conditions. Eight different kinds of samples were designed and synthesized. Each samples were characterized with dynamic mechanical analyser(DMA) to confirm their thermodynamic properties, fractured to analyze the cross-sectional morphology of the samples. And elongation, flexural and impact tests were also executed to evaluate the mechanical properties of the samples. From the results, hybrid composites had well defined crosslinked network structure compared to the widely used denture materials, and the mechanical strength improved without changing any surface condition as increment with POSS ratio in hybrid system. Fractured morphology showed homogeneous surfaces in spite of mutli component system, therefore we can conclude that the adoption of the POSS brought the reinforcement of the denture resin

Pentoxifylline Regulates Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 Expression and Protein Kinase A Phosphorylation in Radiation-Induced Lung Fibrosis

Purpose. Radiation-induced lung fibrosis (RILF) is a serious late complication of radiotherapy. In vitro studies have demonstrated that pentoxifylline (PTX) has suppressing effects in extracellular matrix production in fibroblasts, while the antifibrotic action of PTX alone using clinical dose is yet unexplored. Materials and Methods. We used micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) and histopathological analysis to evaluate the antifibrotic effects of PTX in a rat model of RILF. Results. Micro-CT findings showed that lung density, volume loss, and mediastinal shift are significantly increased at 16 weeks after irradiation. Simultaneously, histological analysis demonstrated thickening of alveolar walls, destruction of alveolar structures, and excessive collagen deposition in the irradiated lung. PTX treatment effectively attenuated the fibrotic changes based on both micro-CT and histopathological analyses. Western analysis also revealed increased levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor- (PAI-) 1 and fibronectin (FN) and PTX treatment reduced expression of PAI-1 and FN by restoring protein kinase A (PKA) phosphorylation but not TGF-β/Smad in both irradiated lung tissues and epithelial cells. Conclusions. Our results demonstrate the antifibrotic effect of PTX on radiation-induced lung fibrosis and its effect on modulation of PKA and PAI-1 expression as possible antifibrotic mechanisms