Relatives’ perspective on the quality of geriatric care and rehabilitation – development and testing of a questionnaire

We perceived a need for relatives’ evaluation of geriatric care and rehabilitation during the care period as well as the first few weeks after discharge. The aim of this study was therefore to develop and test a questionnaire for use in telephone interviews with relatives of patients discharged from geriatric wards to measure their perceptions of the quality of care. The instrument development process comprised a literature review, focus group interviews, construction of items, test of content validity, a pilot study and finally the main data collection to test the construct validity and reliability. A Likert‐type questionnaire was used containing 26 items with five response alternatives; totally disagree, partly disagree, doubtful, partly agree and totally agree. The main data collection comprised 238 telephone interviews. The factor analysis revealed four factors with an eigenvalue >1.0. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.89, which indicates high reliability. The duration of the telephone interview was approximately 10–20 minutes. The relatives appreciated the opportunity to evaluate the care, and a majority stated that they preferred a telephone interview to answering in writing. The questionnaire is considered reliable, valid and useful for identifying areas in need of quality improvement interventions.     

肺癌患者的染色体不稳定性和脆性部位的分析

本文以肺癌患者的外周血为材料,进行了其染色体的不稳定性和脆性部位的分析。实验组血液样本从11位肺癌患者身上取得,正常对照血液从7位健康人身上取得,一级亲属对照的血样取自于7位健康的一级亲属。外周血淋巴细胞在37℃的条件下,于Tc199培养基中培养96小时。利用常规法和G显带技术制备染色体标本,镜检分析。结果表时患者与正常人之间有显著性差异,但一级亲属与正常人及患者之间无差异。     

Genetic epidemiology of bilateral breast cancer: a linkage analysis using the affected-pedigree-member method

We used the affected-pedigree-member (APM) method to conduct linkage analyses on 19 pedigrees in which the probands had premenopausal bilateral breast cancer. This method analyzes all affected pairs of relatives, as opposed to siblings only, and incorporates into the analyses information on the frequency of marker alleles. Fourteen codominant marker systems were evaluated in two separate analyses. In the first, only premenopausal cases of breast cancer were coded as affected because we assumed that postmenopausal cases were due to a different etiology. In the second analysis, all cases of breast cancer were coded as affected, irrespective of menopausal status. In the premenopausal-cases-only analysis, we observed evidence suggestive of nonindependent segregation for C3 and ESD. In the all-cases analysis, we observed much weaker evidence for C3 and ESD and noted a suggestion of nonindependent segregation for AMY2 and PGM1.     

Autism: The Phenotype in Relatives

There is broad agreement that genetic influences are central in the development of idiopathic autism. Whether relatives manifest genetically related milder phenotypes, and if so how these relate to autism proper, has proved a more contentious issue. A review of the relevant studies indicates that relatives are sometimes affected by difficulties that appear conceptually related to autistic behaviors. These range in severity from pervasive developmental disorders to abnormalities in only one area of functioning, and possibly extend to related personality traits. Issues involved in clarifying the components of milder phenotypes and their relationship to autism are outlined.     

Practice of breast self-examination among high risk Chinese women in Hong Kong

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Assessing subjective sleep reports in the first-degree relatives of antidepressant-treated depressed outpatients

This study sought to investigate whether first-degree relatives of depressed patients report, and react to, sleep perceptions in the same way as the depressed group. Our previous research suggested that depressed individuals may experience greater sleep 'distress' than healthy individuals; we wished to explore whether this was also apparent in their nearest relatives. A sample was recruited of 18 antidepressant-treated patients with a current DSM-IV diagnosis of major depressive disorder, 18 healthy controls, and a group of 10 first-degree relatives for each study group. In accordance with previous findings, poorer sleep perceptions corresponded with poorer life-quality and mood perceptions, and depressed individuals reported poorer sleep perceptions and poorer life-quality/mood perceptions than controls. Additionally, there was evidence of similar sleep reporting between depressed patients and their relatives, and for a difference between these relatives and other non-depressed groups. There was a non-significant trend for depressed patients, and their relatives, to report total sleep time in the same manner as each other, and differently to other non-depressed groups. Reports of poor sleep may be associated with reports of poor mood in depression, but in non-depressed individuals the association may be with a feeling of weariness.     

老年期痴呆患者一级亲属生活质量的调查分析

目的探讨老年期痴呆患者一级亲属的生活质量状况。方法采用生活质量综合评定问卷-74（GQOLI-74）对48例老年期痴呆患者亲属及与之相匹配的48例已婚健康受试者进行评定。结果老年期痴呆患者GQOLI-74维度评分和总体生活状态评分均明显低于正常对照组（t=1.97-1.98;P〈0.05或t=2.51-2.66;P〈0.01）具有统计学意义。其中以躯体健康和心理健康尤为显著。结论老年期痴呆患者一级亲属的生活质量较正常对照者差,并涉及到心身健康的多个方面。