Aim: To clarify the predictive risk factors for bedsores of terminal cancer patients receiving home-based care. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted involving 95 terminal cancer patients receiving home-based care, including people using services provided by home-visit care providers until death. Results: The numbers of patients with and without bedsores were 31 and 64, respectively. Bivariate analyses revealed that significant variables were the Ohura-Hotta scale (P=0.02), hyperactive delirium (P=0.005), contracture (P=0.008), and anemia (P=0.02). According to multivariable logistic analysis, significant variables were contracture (OR=16.55, P=0.0002) and hyperactive delirium (OR=4.22, P=0.008) as independent risk factors for bedsores. Discussion: For terminal cancer patients receiving home-based care, hyperactive delirium should also be considered as a predictive risk factor for bedsores.

Rikkunshito is comprised of 8 crude drugs and is used for the treatment of gastrointestinal dysfunctions such as anorexia and heavy stomach feeling. These symptoms are often caused by delay in gastric emptying. Cisplatin is a representative cancer chemotherapeutic drug with severe adverse effects such as anorexia and nausea, that gives rise to a delay in gastric emptying. However, it is still unknown whether rikkunshito has effects on improving the delayed gastric emptying induced by cisplatin. In the present study, we examined the effects of rikkunshito (an Atractylodis rhizoma-containing formula) on cisplatin-induced delay in gastric emptying in the rat. Rikkunshito improved this. Among the crude drugs that comprise rikkunshito, Atractylodis rhizoma, Ginseng radix, Poria and Aurantii nobilis pericarpium individually improved the delay in gastric emptying, suggesting that they all contribute to the action of rikkunshito. Moreover, the effects of these 4 crude drugs in combinations were also examined, and as a result, tended to be stronger when Atractylodis rhizoma was included. On the other hand, when Atractylodis rhizoma was excluded from rikkunshito, the effects were weaker. Meanwhile, atractylenolide III, a specific chemical constituent of Atractylodis rhizoma, improved delay in gastric emptying in a manner similar to that of rikkunshito with Atractylodis rhizoma. These results, taken together, suggest that Atractylodis rhizoma likely contributes greatly to the improving effect of rikkunshito on cisplatin-induced delay in gastric emptying.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct a measurement instrument for climacteric symptoms among Korean and Japanese women. METHODS: From Dec. 1st of 2003 to March 30th of 2004, in-depth interviews were made with 26 women (15 in Jinju, Korea and 11 in Nagasaki, Japan) aged from 45 to 59 years who had not taken hormone replacement therapy to relieve the climacteric symptoms. A draft questionnaire with 45 items was constructed on the basis of the interview data and literature review. Three obstetricians, three PhDs in nursing science, and a chief nurse who was exclusively in charge of the climacteric management, examined the draft questionnaire to evaluate content validity. After deletions 39 items remained for a preliminary questionnaire. A survey was conducted by using a convenient sampling method in Jinju of Korea and Nagasaki of Japan during the period from April 1st, 2004 to July 10th, 2005. RESULTS: Factor analysis identified 4 factors, which were "mental and psychological symptoms", "physical symp-toms", "loss of autonomic nervous system symptoms", "sexual symptoms". These four factors explained 46.9% of total variance. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated that climacteric symptom scale was multidimensional, and the reliability and validity of the scale was supported.
*Climacteric/ethnology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Japan ; Korea ; Middle Aged ; *Nursing Assessment ; *Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results