Adjustment issues related to bilateral prophylactic mastectomy in women at elevated risk of developing breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis for North American and Western European women. Increased knowledge in availability of genetic testing has helped to identify those women at high risk of eventually developing breast cancer. This has resulted in more women considering bilateral prophylactic mastectomy as a viable preventative option. Although the efficacy of the procedure has been established, much less is known about the psychological impact of undergoing this procedure. In order to assess these factors, we reviewed what is currently known about the psychological impact of undergoing bilateral prophylactic mastectomy. Searches were conducted and inclusion criteria revealed articles that focused on the psychological components involved with undergoing a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy. The findings are summarized and fell broadly into one or more of the following three areas: (1) satisfaction or regret following the surgery, (2) psychosocial functioning after the surgery, and (3) predictors of quality of life. Plastic surgery nurses have a unique opportunity to impact important psychological considerations, such as expectations of the early postoperative period, body image concerns, and psychological distress.     

The factor XIII Val34Leu polymorphism: is it protective against idiopathic venous thromboembolism?

The substitution of leucine for valine at amino acid position 34 of the factor XIII gene is commonly referred to as FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism. The homozygous leucine/leucine genotype has been reported to confer protection against venous thromboembolism, but previous studies have not evaluated a population limited to those with idiopathic venous thromboembolism. The primary objective of the study was to determine whether the FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism is independently associated with the occurrence of idiopathic venous thromboembolism. We prospectively enrolled consecutive patients with at least one objectively confirmed idiopathic venous thromboembolism. Friends of cases were recruited as controls and matched to cases by sex, ethnicity, and age. All participants were tested for the FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism in addition to several well-known thrombophilias. Data from 309 cases and 306 controls were analyzed. The FXIII leucine/leucine genotype was present in 4.9% of cases and 6.5% of controls. An adjusted odds ratio of 0.59 (95% confidence interval, 0.25-1.38) was found for the recessive model and 0.69 (95% confidence interval, 0.46-1.02) for the dominant model. Our results do not support an independent association of the FXIII Val34Leu polymorphism with idiopathic venous thromboembolism in our Caucasian Canadian study population.     

Use of a violence risk assessment tool in an acute care hospital: effectiveness in identifying violent patients.

This study examined the use and effectiveness of the Alert assessment form. The form is part of the Alert system, used by one large acute care hospital to identify patients with a propensity for violence. All reported incidents of patient violence from August 1, 2003, through December 31, 2004, were included in patient charts. One hundred seventeen violent patient charts were reviewed and compared with 161 non-violent patient charts, randomly chosen from the same time period. Overall use of the Alert assessment form for violent and non-violent patients was 75.7% and 35.4%, respectively. The assessment form was found to have moderate sensitivity (71%) and high specificity (94%). It is reasonably effective in identifying potentially violent or aggressive patients when it is used according to protocol. Efforts to improve the tool are warranted, as is evaluation of its benefit in settings with low prevalence of violence. Also, greater effort must be taken to prevent violence once an aggressive patient has been identified.     

Drawing the Boundaries: Exploring gender issues in young children's classifications of work using visual representations

This study examines young children's perceptions of work through a specific example. Reception class children at an inner city school were shown pictures of the same figure washing in four different contexts, ranging from housework to paid employment, in order to examine early classifications and conceptual systems relating to the concept of work and to ascertain whether these were gender related. Individual children varied in the complexity of their ideas, but the majority had not yet began to form hierarchical classifications of work which favour paid employment. There was evidence however that some children were beginning to devalue traditional women's work, suggesting that gender stereotypes are still prevalent amongst this age group, despite efforts by the educational system to counter this.