Validation of the relationship consciousness of Japanese Patients with type 2 diabetes scale.

OBJECTIVES: The management of type 2 diabetes mellitus can be improved for individuals by developing relationships with other patients with diabetes. We created the Relationship Consciousness of Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus scale to measure the relationship consciousness of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients for other patients based on the Health Belief Model. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (n = 289). Data were analyzed via exploratory factor analyses, reliability tests, concurrent validity. RESULTS: The final scale obtained for the Relationship Consciousness of Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus scale comprised a six-factor structure with 36 items. All 36 items had a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.893 and explained 59.38% of the total variance. The scale was significantly correlated with a related reciprocity consciousness scale. CONCLUSIONS: The Relationship Consciousness of Japanese Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus scale may be an important tool for nurses to assess the relationship consciousness of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In addition, by understanding patients' relationship consciousness for others who share their disease, nurses can begin to recommend ways to establish relationships between patients that suit patients' particular relationship. consciousness levels and to provide better care in their clinical practice.

The Concept of Sleep Ability and its Effect on Diabetes Control in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes.

OBJECTIVES: Few published studies have examined the effects of various components of sleep on the control of type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to construct a concept of sleep ability and examine its effect on diabetes control in adults with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Participants were 37 outpatients, 41 to 73 years of age, who had type 2 diabetes. Participants monitored their sleep for 14 days using a sleep meter, and they completed questionnaires concerning quality of life (Problem Areas in Diabetes), self-care (Self-Care Agency Questionnaire) and sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). Data on glycated hemoglobin levels and body mass index were also collected. Canonical correlation analysis and exploratory selection were used to investigate the relationships between the variables involved in diabetes control and sleep ability. RESULTS: Using canonical correlation analysis and exploratory selection, sleep ability was found to be composed of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score, objective total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, bedtime standard deviation, wake-up time standard deviation and the absolute value of the difference between subjective and objective sleep efficiency. A significant correlation was found between components of diabetes control (glycated hemoglobin levels, body mass index, quality-of-life evaluation from Problem Areas in Diabetes and self-care evaluation from the Self-Care Agency Questionnaire) and sleep ability (canonical correlation coefficient [RC] =0.755, p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: The significant elements of sleep ability represented the quality, quantity, maintenance, regularity and recognition of sleep, and each element made a large contribution to diabetes control. We conclude, therefore, that improving sleep ability may lead to good diabetes control.

Development and Testing of the Family Structure and Family Functions Scale for Parents Providing Adolescent Reproductive Health Based on the Friedman Family Assessment Model.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To describe the development and testing of a psychometric of Family Structure and Functions (FSF) that measures parents' ability to provide adolescent reproductive health (ARH). METHODS: A cross-sectional study of Indonesian parents (n = 525). Multifactors FSF-ARH were examined using construct validity (exploratory factor analysis [EFA] and confirmatory factor analysis [CFA]) and content validity (Content Validity Index [CVI]). Internal consistency was explored using Cronbach's α coefficient. RESULTS: EFA revealed nine factors with 26 items accounting for 61.64% of explained variance and CFA validity testing fit for the construct validity of FSF-ARH. The CVI indicated adequate content validity (0.80-0.10) and acceptable internal consistency (0.70). CONCLUSIONS: FSF-ARH contains valid, reliable, and robust measures although some subscales performed moderate reliability, establishing the purpose for further research.

A Chemometrics-driven Strategy for the Bioactivity Evaluation of Complex Multicomponent Systems and the Effective Selection of Bioactivity-predictive Chemical Combinations.

Although understanding their chemical composition is vital for accurately predicting the bioactivity of multicomponent drugs, nutraceuticals, and foods, no analytical approach exists to easily predict the bioactivity of multicomponent systems from complex behaviors of multiple coexisting factors. We herein represent a metabolic profiling (MP) strategy for evaluating bioactivity in systems containing various small molecules. Composition profiles of diverse bioactive herbal samples from 21 green tea extract (GTE) panels were obtained by a high-throughput, non-targeted analytical procedure. This employed the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) technique, using 1,5-diaminonaphthalene (1,5-DAN) as the optical matrix for detecting GTE-derived components. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed differences among the GTEs in their antioxidant activity, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). A reliable bioactivity-prediction model was constructed to predict the ORAC of diverse GTEs from their compositional balance. This chemometric procedure allowed the evaluation of GTE bioactivity by multicomponent rather than single-component information. The bioactivity could be easily evaluated by calculating the summed abundance of a few selected components that contributed most to constructing the prediction model. 1,5-DAN-MALDI-MS-MP, using diverse bioactive sample panels, represents a promising strategy for screening bioactivity-predictive multicomponent factors and selecting effective bioactivity-predictive chemical combinations for crude multicomponent systems.

Evaluation of the effects of a combination of Japanese honey and hydrocolloid dressing on cutaneous wound healing in male mice.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the combined use of Japanese honey and hydrocolloid dressing (HCD) on cutaneous wound healing. Mice were divided into four groups: the Acacia (Japan) + HCD, Manuka (New Zealand) + HCD, Chinese milk vetch (Japan) + HCD, and HCD (control) groups. The mice received two full-thickness wounds. The wounds of the HCD group were covered with HCD, whereas those of the other groups were treated with 0.1 mL of the relevant type of honey, before being covered with HCD. Wound area was significantly smaller in the HCD group than in the Acacia + HCD and Manuka + HCD groups on day 13 and days 8-14, respectively. Moreover, compared with the HCD group, reepithelialization was delayed in the Acacia + HCD group and reepithelialization and collagen deposition were delayed in the Chinese milk vetch + HCD and Manuka + HCD groups. These results indicate that the combined use of Japanese honey and HCD does not promote cutaneous wound healing compared with the use of HCD alone. Thus, this method is probably not useful for promoting healing.