Interpersonal positive reframing in the daily lives of couples coping with breast cancer

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined word use as an indicator of interpersonal positive reframing in daily conversations of couples coping with breast cancer and as a predictor of stress.

Design: The Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) were used to examine naturally occurring word use conceptually linked to positive reframing (positive emotion, negative emotion, and cognitive processing words).

Sample: Fifty-two couples coping with breast cancer.

Methods: Couples wore the EAR, a device participants wear, that audio-recorded over one weekend (>16,000 sound files), and completed self-reports of positive reframing (COPE) and stress (Perceived Stress Scale). LIWC, a software program, measured word use.

Findings: Both partners’ word use (i.e., positive emotion and cognitive processing words) was associated with their own reported positive reframing, and spouses’ word use was also indicative of patients’ positive reframing. Results also revealed that, in general, words indicating positive reframing predicted lower levels of stress.

Conclusions: Findings supported the hypothesis that partners—and particularly spouses of breast cancer patients—may assist each other’s coping by positively reframing the cancer experience and other negative experiences in conversation.     

Acute Leukemia in an Infant with Marfan's Syndrome: A Case Report

We describe a familial case of Marfan's syndrome with associated intrathoracic stomach detected during the neonatal period. The patient developed a primitive leukemia at 3 months of age. Acute leukemia in a patient with Marfan's syndrome has not previously been reported.     

Oligoclonal populations of T and B cells in a case of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma predominantly infiltrated by T cells of the VB5.1 family.

AIMS: Immunohistological and molecular characterisation of a case of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AILD) type. METHODS: Frozen and paraffin wax sections of the diagnostic lymph node were stained with a panel of T- and B-cell lineage monoclonal antibodies. DNA was isolated from the paraffin wax embedded biopsy material for T-cell receptor (TCR) and immunoglobulin (Ig) PCR amplification, and resultant PCR products were cloned and sequenced. RESULTS: Immunohistological analysis of the presenting lymph node was consistent with an extensive infiltrate of pleomorphic CD3+CD8+ lymphocytes. Most (>80%) of these infiltrating CD3+ cells were also positive for the TCR VB5.1 gene family product, and were shown to be oligoclonal by TCRB PCR amplification and sequencing. Three oligoclones of B cells were also demonstrable by PCR amplification with Ig heavy chain primers and sequencing, a finding at variance with the diagnosis of AILD. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate the complexity and heterogeneity of PTCL which require extensive histological examination and molecular characterisation.     

Optic nerve glioma and the management of optic nerve tumours in the young.

Thirty-one patients presenting as orbital optic nerve glioma have been reviewed with maximum follow-up of 14 years. Sixteen of these patients have been reported on previously and further follow-up is provided. Sixteen patients had a stable clinical course with little change over a period of up to 13.5 years. Neurofibromatosis was relatively common in this group (11/16). Fifteen patients had progressive enlargement of the tumour; the incidence of neurofibromatosis in this group was low (4/15). Eleven of these patients were explored neurosurgically and the optic nerve totally excised in 10 of them. The proximal cut end was normal in six patients and the chiasm has apparently remained free of tumour in all of them. We suggest a method of management of primary optic nerve tumours, both meningiomas and gliomas, in young patients.