A therapeutic approach utilizing animals is said to be effective for emotionally troubled patients. Recently, this animal-assisted therapy has been implemented in psychiatric hospitals. In the present study, patients seeking some kind of benefit from the interaction with animals participated, and their interaction with animals was closely observed. The results clarified the tendencies of those patients requiring this approach and the resulting changes in patients' mood. For the nurses engaged in 24-hour living support for hospitalized patients, environmental improvement is an important aspect of nursing care and “creating a hospital environment that includes animals” may be linked to emotional stability, improved motivation to live and environmental adaptation for patients who like animals.

The aim of this study was to clarify the prevalence and characteristics of breakthrough pain in cancer patients. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of consecutive patients older than 20 years of age admitted to a University Hospital with a cancer diagnosis Breakthrough pain was defined as meeting all of the following criteria： Pain 1）with background pain present most of the time, 2）which is well controlled, 3）with short-lived episodes of exacerbation. One hundred and sixty-nine patients were recruited and 118（69.8％）completed the survey. Of these 118 patients, 11％（95％CI：7–18％）had breakthrough pain. Breakthrough pain occurred in 23％（14–35％）of patients with cancer-related pain and 29％（17–45％）of patients with pain from the cancer itself. Patients reported episodes occurring up to three times a day,a time to peak intensity of within 5 minutes, and a duration of untreated episodes of up to 15 minutes are 54％（29–77％）, 54％（29–77％）, 54％（29–77％）, respectively.