A clinical and radiological two‐year follow‐up study of maxillary overdentures on osseointegrated implants

In order to satisfy the need to restore the aesthetics, phonetics and comfort and to facilitate optimal hygiene procedures, 20 edentulous patients were treated with a new concept of overdenture therapy on implants ad modum Brånemark. After 24±3.5 months the patients were re‐examined. They were asked to answer a questionnaire and use a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to give their opinion on the prosthetic treatment. The results indicate that an implant‐retained overdenture in the maxilla with this design can satisfy the patients needs in aesthetics, phonetics and comfort and can 1 facilitate oral hygiene measures.     

Caring for the Involuntarily Hospitalized Adolescent: The Issue of Power in the Nurse-Patient Relationship

TOPIC: The power relations between involuntarily hospitalized adolescents and their caregivers from the viewpoint of theory development in nursing and the concept of medicalization. PURPOSE: To contribute to the development of nursing theories that can guide nursing care of involuntarily hospitalized adolescents by examining the power relations between the adolescents and their caregivers. SOURCES: Published literature in medical sociology, and nursing and psychiatric ethics. Nursing and psychiatric literature, in which Michel Foucault's theories are used to explicate the disciplinary power of psychiatry. CONCLUSIONS: To empower involuntarily hospitalized adolescents nurses must both recognize the inevitable power imbalance and seek guidance from the egalitarian ideals of nursing. Nurses can draw from postmodern thinkers who dismiss the idea that one theory can explain human relationships.     

社会能力评定量表的编制及信效度检验

目的：编制社会能力评定量表并检测其信度和效度。方法：在全国五大行政区用社会能力评定量表评估1605例正常人(男性814名，女性791名)，分析量表的信效度。结果：全量表的Cronbach's α系数为0．88-0．92，三个分量表的d系数为0．81～0．88；量表的分半信度为0．76～0．87，量表的重测信度为0．67～0．86，量表评分者信度为0．91～0．97，表明量表具有较好的内部一致性和稳定性；各条目与总分的相关系数0．49-0．80，分量表与总分的相关系数为0．76～0.89，通过因子分析，证实了量表的结构效度；全量表总分和职业能力得分与被试单位提供的实际社会能力评分呈高度相关，与韦氏智商呈中低度相关。结论：量表编制符合心理测量学要求，具有良好的信度和效度。     

Psychiatric patients and their response to experimental stress

Serum levels of Epinephrine (E), norepinephrine (NE), heart rate (HR), skin conductance reaction (SCR) and skin conductance level (SCL) were measured in schizophrenic, endogenous depressed and anxiety patients as well as in normal controls. Conditions were rest, noise and a mental arithmetic (MA) task. Schizophrenic and depressed patients had an attenuated HR response to MA. Moreover, Schizophrenic patients also had higher NE base level and the highest NE secretion during noise. Anxiety and depressed patients showed significantly lower phasic electrodermal activity (SCR) throughout the whole trial, exclusively anxiety patients had significantly higher tonic electrodermal activity (SCL). These findings indicate that autonomous reactions discriminate between patient groups and controls as well as between each other.     

Discrimination of idiopathic pain syndromes from neurogenic pain syndromes and healthy volunteers by means of clinical rating,personality traits,monoamine metabolites in CSF,serum cortisol,platelet MAO and urinary melatonin

Summary The aim of the present study was to investigate the discriminative power of a series of variables (including determination of depressive symptomatology by means of a visual analogue scale, determination of personality traits by means of the Karolinska Scales of Personality, determination of monoamine metabolites in CSF, platelet MAO activities, serum cortisol before and after dexamethasone suppression and urinary melatonin) in differentiating (a) chronic pain patients from healthy subjects, and (b) patients with idiopathic pain syndromes from patients with neurogenic pain syndromes. Separately each of the measures gave a significant but often low contribution to the discrimination, while a combination of several measures gave a complete discrimination both between healthy subjects and patients with chronic pain syndromes and between patients with idiopathic and neurogenic pain syndromes, respectively.Supported in part by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (grants no. 3371, 4145 and 5740) and by a grant from Stiftelsen Söderström-Königska Sjukhemmet     

Is the Evaluation of the Global Quality of Life Determined by Emotional Status?

The present study investigated relationships between global QOL perceptions and well-being dimensions. Especially our goal was to evaluate the impact of generally recognised four broad dimensions of QOL (physical, functional, social and emotional well-being) on global QOL perceptions, additionally person's satisfaction with life achievements and economical situation were measured as well as social demographic variables. The subjects were a representative sample of Finns (n = 4613, from 25 to 65 years) of the FINRISK-97 study. Correlation coefficients and models of hierarchical regression indicated that physical, functional and social well-being as well as sociodemographic factors and satisfaction with life achievements are important factors of global QOL perceptions both among males and females. However percentages of variances explained with these measures were only moderately high, ranging from 1 to 10%. After measures of emotional well-being were entered into the models of hierarchical analyses of regression, variances explained grew dramatically over 20%. The results of the study indicated that global QOL judgements are likely to be based on current emotional state.     

Learning to Observe Relationships and Coping

Milieu relationships provide the critical background presence to staff's attempts to motivate, regulate, and teach patients how to cope with stress. Forging a connection with hospitalized children and adolescents demands attention to how they respond to adults and engage with staff around milieu expectations. Assessment guides that deal with these issues are presented. Important aspects of children's relatedness are presented in the context of their working models of adults and the influence of these representations on their response to staff. Coping skills are explained with particular emphasis on behavioral coping strategies. Tied to the assessment process are interventions that emphasize staff's role in helping patients manage strong affects and avoid the use of nonproductive behavior regulation strategies.