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“Objectives: An increasingly important concern for clinicians who care for patients at the end of life is their spiritual well-being selleck inhibitor and sense of meaning and purpose in life. In response to the need for short-term interventions to address spiritual well-being, we developed Meaning Centered Group Psychotherapy (MCGP) to help patients with advanced cancer sustain or enhance a sense of meaning, peace and

purpose in their lives, even as they approach the end of life.

Methods: Patients with advanced (stage III or IV) solid tumor cancers (N = 90) were randomly assigned to either MCGP or a supportive group psychotherapy (SGP). Patients were assessed before and after completing the 8-week intervention, and again 2 months after completion. Outcome assessment included measures of spiritual well-being, meaning, hopelessness, desire for death, optimism/pessimism, anxiety, depression and overall quality of life.

Results: MCGP resulted in significantly STA-9090 datasheet greater improvements in spiritual well-being and a sense of meaning. Treatment gains were even more substantial (based on effect size estimates) at the second

follow-up assessment. Improvements in anxiety and desire for death were also significant (and increased over time). There was no significant improvement on any of these variables for patients participating in SGP.

Conclusions: MCGP appears to be a potentially beneficial intervention for patients’ emotional and spiritual suffering at the end of life. Further research, with larger samples, is clearly needed to better understand the potential benefits of this novel intervention. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.”
“Purpose: Prior studies have associated gross inner ear abnormalities

with pediatric sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) using computed tomography (CT). No studies to date have specifically investigated morphologic inner ear abnormalities involving the contralateral unaffected ear in patients with unilateral SNHL. The purpose of this study is to evaluate contralateral inner ear structures of subjects with unilateral SNHL but no grossly abnormal findings www.selleckchem.com/products/AZD1480.html on CT.

Materials and methods: IRB-approved retrospective analysis of pediatric temporal bone CT scans. 97 temporal bone CT scans, previously interpreted as “”normal”" based upon previously accepted guidelines by board certified neuroradiologists, were assessed using 12 measurements of the semicircular canals, cochlea and vestibule. The control-group consisted of 72 “”normal”" temporal bone CTs with underlying SNHL in the subject excluded. The study-group consisted of 25 normal-hearing contralateral temporal bones in subjects with unilateral SNHL. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was then conducted to evaluate for differences between the study and control group.