Precisely Tuning Photothermal and Photodynamic Effects of Polymeric Nanoparticles by Controlled Copolymerization.

Cancer possesses normoxic and hypoxia microenvironments with different levels of oxygen, needing different efficacies of photothermal and photodynamic therapies. It is important to precisely tune the photothermal and photodynamic effects of phototherapy nano-agents for efficient cancer treatment. Now, a series of copolymeric nanoparticles (PPy-Te NPs) were synthesized in situ by controlled oxidative copolymerization with different ratios of pyrrole to tellurophene by FeCl3 . The photothermal and photodynamic effects of semiconducting nano-agents under the first near-infrared (NIR) irradiation were precisely and systematically tuned upon simply varying the molar ratio of the pyrrole to tellurophene. The PPy-Te NPs were used for cancer treatment in mice, exhibiting excellent biocompatibility and therapeutic effect. This work presents a simple method to tune photothermal and photodynamic therapies effect in semiconducting nano-agents for cancer treatment.

Discovery and optimization of oxadiazole-based FLAP inhibitors.

Structure activity relationship (SAR) investigation of an oxadiazole based series led to the discovery of several potent FLAP inhibitors. Lead optimization focused on achieving functional activity while improving physiochemical properties and reducing hERG inhibition. Several compounds with favorable in vitro and in vivo properties were identified that were suitable for advanced profiling.

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of Spiritual Index of Well-Being in elderly Taiwanese.

BACKGROUND: Spiritual well-being has become an increasingly important issue for the elderly people. The 12-item Spirituality Index of Well-Being (SIWB) is a well-validated instrument for assessing a patient's current spiritual state. However, the psychometric properties of the SIWB in the Chinese elderly populations are not known. Therefore, this study translated the SIWB into Chinese and evaluated its psychometric properties. METHODS: The English version of the SIWB was first translated into Chinese based on the Brislin's translation model. The psychometric properties of the translated version of the SIWB (SIWB-C) was evaluated in 416 elderly Taiwanese recruited using a purposive sampling procedure from a medical center, a long-term care institution, and a community health center. Convergent validity was accessed using Pearson's correlation coefficients of the SIWB-C, the EQ-5D-3 L health-related quality of life scale, and the Geriatric Depression Scale-5 (GDS-5). Exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation was performed to determine the construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for verification of the quality of the factor structures and demonstrating the convergent validity of the SIWB-C. An internal consistency test based on the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and a stability test based on the Guttman split-half coefficient were also performed. Test-retest reliability was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the original two-dimensional structure of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a well-fitting model and a fine convergent validity of the SIWB-C. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the Guttman split-half coefficient for the SIWB-C were 0.94 and 0.84, respectively. The correlations between the SIWB-C with EQ-5D-3 L and GDS-5 were 0.22 (p < 0.01) and 0.45 (p < 0.05), respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient of the SIWB-C over a test-retest interval of two weeks was 0.989. CONCLUSIONS: The SIWB-C was found to be a potential useful measure of subjective spiritual well-being in elderly Taiwanese. Its application in assessing the spiritual well-being in Mandarin-speaking elderly population warrants further investigation.

Nurse education and willingness to provide spiritual care.

BACKGROUND: Spiritual care is a critical part of holistic care, and nurses require adequate preparation to address the spiritual needs of patients. However, nurses' willingness to provide such care has rarely been reported. Hence, nurses' education, and knowledge of spiritual care, as well as their willingness to provide it require further study. METHODS: A convenience sample of 200 nurses participated in the study. Quantitative data were collected using a 21-item Spiritual Care Needs Inventory (content validity index=.87; Cronbach's alpha=.96). RESULTS: The majority of participants were female (96.5%, n=193) between 21 and 59years old (mean=35.1years). Moreover, the majority of participants had a Bachelor's degree (74.0%, n=148) and 1-36years of clinical experience (mean=12.13years). Regarding religious beliefs, 63 (31.5%) had no religious belief, and 93 (46.5%) did not engage in any religious activity. Overall, the nurses were willing to provide spiritual care, although only 25 (12.5%) felt that they had received adequate education. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study indicate the need for further educational preparation in spiritual care for nurses. Specifically, additional teaching materials are required that are more directly related to spiritual care. Greater emphasis should be placed on different subject areas in school-based education, continuing education, and self-learning education according to the needs of nurses. Since spiritual care education needs policy support, in-depth discussions should take place regarding the approach and cultural environment for providing spiritual care in future nursing courses. Moreover, further studies should investigate barriers in providing spiritual nursing care to patients and whether they are the results of a lack of relevant knowledge or other factors.

Development and Validation of the Spiritual Care Needs Inventory for Acute Care Hospital Patients in Taiwan.

Spiritual care is increasingly being recognized as an integral aspect of nursing practice. The aim of this study was to develop a new instrument, Spiritual Care Needs Inventory (SCNI), for measuring spiritual care needs in acute care hospital patients with different religious beliefs. The 21-item instrument was completed by 1,351 adult acute care patients recruited from a medical center in Taiwan. Principal components analysis of the SCNI revealed two components, (a) meaning and hope and (b) caring and respect, which together accounted for 66.2% of the total variance. The internal consistency measures for the two components were 0.96 and 0.91, respectively. Furthermore, younger age, female sex, Christian religion, and regularly attending religious activities had significantly higher mean total scores in both components. The SCNI was found to be a simple instrument with excellent internal consistency for measuring the spiritual care needs in acute care hospital patients.

Randomized controlled trial of a six-week spiritual reminiscence intervention on hope, life satisfaction, and spiritual well-being in elderly with mild and moderate dementia.

OBJECTIVE: Reminiscence therapy has been reported to improve the well-being in patients with dementia. However, few studies have examined the effects of spiritual reminiscence, which emphasizes on reconnecting and enhancing the meaning of one's own experience, on patients with dementia. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of spiritual reminiscence on hope, life satisfaction, and spiritual well-being in elderly Taiwanese with mild or moderate dementia. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 103 patients with mild or moderate dementia recruited from a medical center in central Taiwan. The patients were randomly assigned to either a 6-week spiritual reminiscence group (n = 53) or control group (n = 50). The Herth Hope Index, the Life Satisfaction Scale, the Spirituality Index of Well-Being were administered before and after the 6-week period. RESULTS: The interaction terms between group and time for the three outcome measures were found to be significant (P < 0.001), indicating that the changes over time in them were different between the intervention and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this randomized controlled trial showed that hope, life satisfaction, and spiritual well-being of elderly patients with mild or moderate dementia could significantly be improved with a 6-week spiritual reminiscence intervention.

Blumea balsamifera Oil for the Acceleration of Healing of Burn Injuries.

Blumea balsamifera oil (BBO) is a main extract obtained from Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC (Ainaxiang) leaves, which are widely used as a traditional medicine by the Miao and Li Nations to promote skin trauma or burn injury healing. This study was initiated to investigate the healing efficacy in deep second-degree burn model in rats. The rats were treated by BBO for 21 consecutive days. The rate of healing, scabs dropped time and re-epithelialization time were observed every three days for 21 days after burn injury. The samples were collected from different treated rats by sacrificing the animals on the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 9th, 14th, and 21st day post-burn creation. Then, the water content of burn tissue was measured. Plasma interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) levels were evaluated, and the tissue expressions of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-ß) were determined along with skin histopathology. The results showed that the water content of tissue was significantly reduced, the scabs dropped time shortened, and healing accelerated after treatment with BBO in the burn injury rats. Furthermore, the expressions of growth factors were significantly increased in the tissue; however, the levels of inflammatory factors on plasma decreased. This study confirms the efficacy of BBO consumption on burn injuries.

Concordance between nurses' perception of their ability to provide spiritual care and the identified spiritual needs of hospitalized patients: A cross-sectional observational study.

Spiritual care is essential to the well-being of patients, and nurses provide spiritual care as a fundamental part of nursing practice. In this study, we investigated the spiritual care needs of hospitalized patients to determine whether the perceived knowledge of nurses corresponded with these spiritual care needs. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1351 hospitalized patients and 200 registered nurses recruited from a medical center in central Taiwan. A questionnaire, including the 21-item Spiritual Care Needs Inventory (patient and nurse version) and basic demographic information, was distributed to eligible participants. The top three items of the spiritual care needs expressed by the hospitalized patients were respect for privacy and dignity, showing concern, and guidance in gaining a sense of hope in life; the percentages of nurses not knowing how to provide these spiritual care needs were 0%, 1%, and 15%, respectively. The spiritual care needs of patients showed a significant relationship with the knowledge of nurses, suggesting that the perceived knowledge of the nurses generally corresponded with the spiritual care items that the patients required most.

Nursing student perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care.

BACKGROUND: Spirituality is a necessary component of life. Spiritual care includes the activities necessary to meet the spiritual needs of clients. Nursing students must receive appropriate training to develop their abilities to provide spiritual care. PURPOSE: This study explored student nurse perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care and related factors. METHODS: We used a cross-sectional descriptive design and purposive sampling. Participants were senior nursing students of both genders from 22 schools. The Chinese version of a spirituality and spiritual scale was the research tool. A total of 239 participants returned the questionnaires, giving a response rate of 91.92%. RESULTS: Average participant age was 19.48 years; 45.61% reported no religion; 65.59% did not participate in religious activities; 94.56% reported having an interest in nursing; 52.72% were undecided about pursuing a nursing career; 3.35% did not want to be nurses; 46.44% had taken spirituality courses in school; 53.56% had taken spiritual care courses. Participants' overall perception of spirituality and spiritual care was "clear." This runs contrary to the idea that only religious people are spiritual and that non-religious nurses may be less able to tend to the spiritual needs of their patients. Participants who had taken spirituality or spiritual care courses had an interest in nursing and were willing to become nurses had, on average, significantly better spirituality knowledge and spiritual care attitudes than other participants. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study found that education, experience, career interest in nursing, and career choice affects nursing student perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care. We also found that this effect was independent of gender. Nursing students should be holistic care providers. Integrating spirituality and spiritual care into the standard nursing curriculum is recommended to improve nursing care quality.

Exploration of clinical nurses' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care.

BACKGROUND: Florence Nightingale emphasized the need for nurses to honor the psychological and spiritual aspects of patients to promote patients' health. Whereas study of a public hospital in Singapore presented similar findings, few studies have explored clinical nurses' perceptions of spirituality. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of specific nurse demographic characteristics in predicting perception differences with regard to spirituality and spiritual care. METHODS: The Chinese version of the Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale was developed using a translate and back-translate process, achieving a content validity index of .98. This study used a cross-sectional descriptive survey with 350 clinical nurses as the study sample. Three hundred forty-nine valid questionnaires were returned (response rate, 99.71%). The institutional review board of the hospital approved this study. RESULTS: Most participants were women, ranging in age from 23 to 64 years. Participants' clinical experience ranged from less than 1 year to 40 years, with a mean experience value of 13.42 years. Participants were distributed among all clinical specialties. Slightly less than half (41.83%) professed no religious belief, and most were not involved in religious activities (55.01%, n = 192). A little over half (53.58%, n = 187) had received spiritual care lessons during nurse training, and more than half (58.74%, n = 205) had received spiritual care continuous education after graduation. This survey found perception of spirituality positively related to holding a master's degree, 11 to 19 years of clinical experience, specialty in palliative nursing, and having received spiritual care lessons during nursing training or continuing education. Clinical nurses who held a master's degree or received spiritual care lessons during continuing education had higher levels of spiritual care perception. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This study found education to have a positive impact on participants' perception of spirituality and spiritual care. A higher education level and more spiritual care lessons or training courses were found to increase perception level. Study findings provide preliminary insights into nurses' perceptions of spirituality and spiritual care in Taiwan. Findings demonstrate an urgent need for additional education programs or training in spiritual care to improve the ability of nurses in catering to the spiritual needs of patients and guide clinical nurses when conducting spiritual care.

Group integrative reminiscence therapy on self-esteem, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms in institutionalised older veterans.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to use group integrative reminiscence as a nursing intervention to evaluate the immediate effects on self-esteem, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms for a special group named 'institutionalised older veterans' after a 12-week intervention. BACKGROUND: The study group comprised institutionalised older veterans with combat experience, including being wounded in war and who were twice forced to relocate. The group participants had lower life satisfaction, and greater use for mental health services and greater non-specific health complaints were reported from this group. Reminiscence therapy has been considered an effective nursing intervention, but the effects on institutionalised older veterans have not been studied. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental design and purposive sampling were conducted. METHODS: A total of 74 participants were studied with pre- and post-tests to measure the effect of group integrative reminiscence therapy. The activity was held once weekly for 12 weeks. The Life Satisfaction Index A, self-esteem scale and Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form were used as research tools, and the t-test, Fisher's exact test and generalised estimating equation were used for data analysis. RESULTS: All participants were male, with an average age of 81·34 years old, 91·9% unmarried and were in bad health. After 12 weeks of intervention, the reminiscence groups significantly improved their self-esteem and life satisfaction and decreased depressive symptoms compared with control groups. CONCLUSION: Group integrative reminiscence revealed immediate effects on improving the self-esteem and life satisfaction of institutionalised older veterans, and depressive symptoms were also decreased. Moreover, a sense of positive self-value and belonging to the institution was produced. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Group integrative reminiscence is an applicable nursing intervention for vulnerable persons such as institutionalised older veterans. A structured protocol based on the characteristics of the residents and the aim of the intervention can lead nurses to provide appropriate reminiscent activities.

[The role of the chinese medicine nurse in Taiwan: professional or assistant?].

Personal participation in first line Chinese medicine nursing practice made the author aware of a significant gap between learning and practice in traditional Chinese medicine nursing. For this paper, she interviewed physicians, nurses and patients, researched hospital system and regulatory requirements. She found that "an assistant" is what Chinese medicine physicians expect of nurses, while patients expect a nurse to be able to help them complete treatment while having a good attitude. In order to distinguish clearly nursing from medicine, nursing scholars, with the help of the Chinese Medicine Committee have designed a Chinese medicine nursing training program. Administration is the main content of front-line nurses in this field. They typically have limited responsibilities related to health problem assessment, prevention, or providing guidance / advice. This article raised difficulties and contradictions between the role and practice of Chinese medicine nurses. Three suggestions are provided, including: clearer demarcation of job responsibilities; renewed respect for nurses as professionals; and including traditional Chinese medicine nursing into the formal nursing curricula in order to support a better future for Chinese medicine nurses.