Fabrication of Anisotropic Polypyrrole Actuators

The novel features of electrochemical actuators fabricated from a cylindrical polypyrrole (PPy) pipe prepared by the electrochemical polymerization techniques have been described. This cylindrical PPy pipe was cut into a rectangular film and its electrochemical and electrical properties were measured. When the inner surface of the PPy film (surface in contact with electrolyte when PPy was polymerized) was insulated and redox was carried out, the PPy film bent toward the outer surface (surface in contact with a slender Teflon pipe when PPy was polymerized) upon reduction and returned to its original shape upon oxidation. However, the bending was not completely accompanished by redox when the outer wall side of the PPy film was insulated. Although such an anomalous bending in the PPy film actuator cannot be explained satisfactorily at this stage, we speculate that the bending phenomena are due to steric effects from cation insertion and extraction

Size effects in near-ultraviolet Raman spectra of few-nanometer-thick silicon-oninsulator nanofilms

We have fabricated Si-on-insulator (SOI) layers with a thickness h1 of a few nanometers and examined them by Raman spectroscopy with 363.8 nm excitation. We have found that phonon and electron confinement play important roles in SOI with h1<10 nm. We have confirmed that the first-order longitudinal optical phonon Raman band displays size-induced major homogeneous broadening due to phonon lifetime reduction as well as minor inhomogeneous broadening due to wave vector relaxation (WVR), both kinds of broadening being independent of temperature. Due to WVR, transverse acoustic (TA) phonons become Raman-active and give rise to a broad band in the range of 100–200 cm 1. Another broad band appeared at 200–400 cm 1 in the spectrum of SOI is attributed to the superposition of 1st order Raman scattering on longitudinal acoustic phonons and 2nd order scattering on TA phonons. Suppression of resonance-assisted 2-nd order Raman bands in SOI spectra is explained by the electron-confinement-induced direct band gap enlargement compared to bulk Si, which is confirmed by SOI reflection spectra. Published by AIP Publishing. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4947021

Challenge of psychiatric rehabilitation for patients with long-term hospitalizations using the Nirje’s normalization principles as a valuation standard: two case studies

This research investigates the current care of hospitalized, chronically mentally ill persons to determine to what extent current hospitalization supports Nirje’ s principles of normalization. We propose that care-providers try to incorporate rehabilitation programs that help the patients acquire the pattern and rhythm of living necessary for them to live in the community in their daily hospital life rather than to fit the patients into hospital rules or schedule. Therefore, care-providers must look back on their own views of the humanity, disabled people, and support and may have to change them if necessary. It is important that care-providers do not give up having psychiatric patients not give up restoration of normal social living. To develop such individual attempts into rewarding activities, it is necessary to set goals in the hospital and to let an interdisciplinary team work to achieve them. Moreover, the situation is expected to change if efficient care management is implemented to support psychiatric patients in the community. High-quality care to realize independent living of patients in the community including collection and distribution of information, management of symptoms, assistance for self-care, and psychological education is provided at hospitals that maintain the idea of, and strong belief in, providing high-quality care for returning patients to the community. The findings of this study will provide insights into how to design better hospitalization and/or community care for the mentally ill.

フィリピンの看護大学および病院の視察報告

２１世紀のグローバル社会を生きる学生が国際的な視野を持つ事ができるよう，国際交流の場を提供することは看護教育における課題である．本稿の目的は，フィリピンの看護教育制度への関心を高めることにある．なぜならば，アジア地域との交流は今後ますます活発になる事が予測されるからである．そこで、フィリピン大学の看護学教育および隣接するPhilippines General Hospital の看護システムを視察した．また，University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center（UERM），College of Nursing（私学）も視察した．看護教育はすべて大学でなされ，大学の卒業生は高い実践能力を有する看護師であると考えていた．Philippines General Hospital は利用者の９０％が無収入か低所得者とのことで，１次医療から３次医療まで対応している国立の大規模な総合病院であった．病室の大半が総室で家族の付き添う姿も見られた．看護職の離職および不足においては日本と類似した問題を抱えていた．短時間の視察であったが，看護教育への示唆を得ることができた．It is an important theme in nursing education to offer an opportunity of an international exchange so that the nursing student living in global society of the 21 st century can have an international field of vision. A purpose of this report is to raise interest to a Philippine nursing education system and care system. Because we thought that the transaction with an Asian region is predicted to become more and more active in future. Therefore we inspected a nursing education of a Philippine university and a care system of Philippines General Hospital. In addition, we visited University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center（UERM）, College of Nursing（a private school）. All the nursing education in a Philippine nursing education was made at University/college, and the teacher thought that graduates of their university were nurses having ability for high practice. We had explanation that the Philippines General Hospital was the national major general hospital which provided from medical treatment to the third medical treatment and 90% of the patient who used there were no income or low-income people. Most of patient’s room was the room for the plurality of patients, and we saw that a family attended the patient there. We thought that there was a similar problem in quitting a job and a shortage of nurses. But we were able to have a suggestion to nursing education during short inspection

Collaborative agencies and quality discharge support for the long-term care inpatients with mental illness

Long-term hospitalization is a problem for psychiatric care in Japan. The purpose of this research was to clarify the demands placed on public health nurses’ (PHN) involved in the discharge of long-term inpatients (LIPs) with mental illness, and their lack of support. A questionnaire was mailed to 516 health centers, and 112 health centers replied. The response rate was 21.7 percent. The mail survey questionnaire was based on original questionnaire developed by the authors. Significant differences were found among collaborative agencies selected as essential for the discharge support project for the LIPs with mental illness. These differences were evident in the following question items on insufficiency of support : “Incompatibility with the policy of the public health center on discharge support” ; “Opposition to discharge of a LIPs with mental illness by hospital staff” ; and “Shortage of PHN in charge of the discharge support project for the LIPs with mental illness”. It was clarified that the discharge support project required not only the involvement of health and medical welfare personnel but also the cooperation of local human resources such as local residents, neighbor associations, social workers, real-estate agencies and others

Study of life satisfaction and quality of life of patients receiving home oxygen therapy

An investigation was conducted by mail using a questionnaire regarding the life satisfaction and quality of life (QOL) of patients receiving home oxygen therapy (HOT) to evaluate their support. QOL was evaluated according to 4 scales : (1) activities, (2) state of health and quality of living, (3) physical symptoms, and (4) economic state. The answers of 90 patients (recovery rate : 60%) who responded to the investigation were analyzed, and the following points were clarified. 1. Most of the subjects visited the hospital regularly, and about half the subjects (50.6%) had been treated by hospitalization during the 3 years prior to the investigation. 2. A large majority of the subjects (77.4%) answered they were satisfied with life. 3. Life satisfaction was closely related to the patients’ roles and hobbies, and their activities in their communities and families. 4. The quality of living and the state of health were closely related to mental activity. 5. The economic state was closely related to all items of life satisfaction, quality of living, and state of health. From these results, expansion of the range of activities of patients receiving HOT and providing an economic basis for their living as well as preventing exacerbation of the disease are considered to be important for improving their life satisfaction

Home nursing skills of the registered visiting nursing stations

本研究の目的は，T県内の訪問看護ステーション（以下ステーション）に所属する看護師が実施している看護技術の実態を明らかにすることである．研究対象は，T県において登録されているステーション５７ヵ所の管理者であった．調査票の郵送により４段階の選択肢による回答を求め，以下のことが明らかになった． １）回答のあった４１ヵ所のステーションで１ヵ月に１度以上実施していた項目は「日常生活援助技術」では，関節可動域訓練，歩行介助，移動の介助，寝衣交換などの衣生活援助であった．「適切な医療ケアを支援する技術」ではバイタルサインの観察であった．「安全・安楽援助技術」では適切な体位の保持であった． ２）「日常生活援助技術」では，回答のあったステーションの９０％以上が１ヵ月に１度以上実施していた項目は，療養生活環境調整，排便を促す援助，オムツ交換，体位変換，移乗の介助，部分浴，入浴介助，清拭，陰部ケア，整容，洗髪，口腔ケアであった． ３）「適切な医療ケアを支援する技術」では，８０％以上のステーションが１ヵ月に１度以上実施していた項目は褥瘡ケア（予防も含む），創傷処置，経口薬の服薬方法の説明，外用薬の使用方法の説明，パルスオキシメータであった． ４）「安全・安楽援助技術」では，８０％以上のステーションが１ヵ月に１度以上実施していた項目は療養生活の安全確保，転倒・転落・外傷予防，マッサージであった． ５）救命・救急に関する項目については実施頻度が低かった． 教育上の課題としては，実施頻度が高い項目においては，訪問先の状況に応じた実施ができるように学内演習を進める必要がある．また，臨地での経験が困難と予測される項目や救急時の技術，高度な医療技術項目については視聴覚機器を活用し，知識面での理解を深める必要があると考えられた．Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the study items of home nursing skills of the registered Visiting Nursing Stations（VNS）. Method : The questionnaire survey was mailed to fifty seven managers of registered VNS in T prefecture. Results : The effective answer rate was ７１．９％（n＝４１）．The nursing skills in the three domains that were carried out at least once or more in a month by nurses who belong to all VNS are as follows : １）In the domain of daily life support skills, four items of “range of motion exercises”，“walking assistance”， “assistance of transferring”, and “changing night clothes” were identified. ２）In the domain of skills for helping effective medical care，“check-up of vital signs” was identified. ３）In the domain of skills for safety/ comfort， “maintaining comfortable positions” was identified. And nursing skills that were required in emergency medical care/treatments were observed in a very low frequency in the same domain. Discussion : The nursing faculty should provide exercises in the university settings for the students to acquire these fundamental nursing skills, so that they can perform adequate nursing care at the time of home visits. In addition, it might be necessary for the faculty to utilize an audiovisual aid effectively in order to promote a better understanding of the students on the nursing skills/knowledge that would be rarely experienced during their clinical training, such as emergency clinical care and advanced therapeutic technologies. In order to build the effective study support system for the nursing students, we need to develop a collaborative education system between the University and the VNS

Gliosarcoma arising from a fibrillary astrocytoma

We report a 67-year-old woman who was diagnosed with a gliosarcoma at a second operation after diagnosis of a fibrillary astrocytoma 5 months previously. Initially, she underwent a CT-guided stereotactic biopsy. Histological examination showed fibrillary astrocytoma (World Health Organization [WHO] grade II). Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on 1 p, 10q, and 19q was not detected. She received chemotherapy, but no radiotherapy. Five months after the biopsy, MRI revealed rapid tumor growth. Tissue obtained from partial removal of the tumor revealed gliosarcoma (WHO grade IV), and LOH on 10q and 19q was detected. The history, histopathology, and genetic alterations of this patient are discussed.ArticleJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE. 18(9):1251-1254 (2011)journal articl