Mediating effect of general self-efficacy between stress coping personality and perceived professional benefits among nursing interns / 中国职业医学

OBJECTIVE: To explore the mediating effect of the general self-efficacy(GSE), stress coping personality(SCP) and perceived professional benefits(PPB) among nursing practice students. METHODS: A total of 836 nursing interns from six grade A hospitals in six cities were selected as the research subjects using convenience sampling method. The GSE, SCP and PPB were investigated by the General Self-Efficacy Scale, Scale of Stress Coping Personality for College Students and Questionnaire of Nurses Perceived Professional Benefit. RESULTS: The average scores of GSE, SCP, and PPB were(24.6±5.8),(183.1±28.7) and(139.5±18.0), respectively. The scores of GSE and SCP were positively correlated with that of PPB [correlation coefficients(r) were 0.31 and 0.38 respectively, both P<0.01], and a positive correlation was found between GSE and SCP(r=0.41, P<0.01). The hierarchical regression results showed that the sense of control, tenacity and tolerance of SCP of the interns had a predictive effect on their PPB(all P<0.05); but the effect of SCP on PPB was weakened after inclusion of GSE(P<0.01). The structural equation model analysis results showed that both SCP and GSE of interns had a direct positive predictive effect on PPB(all P<0.01), GSE played a partial mediating role between SCP and PPB, accounting for 20.3% of the total effect. CONCLUSION: The SCP of nursing interns can directly or indirectly affect their PPB, and GSE plays a partial mediating effect between SCP and PPB.

Correlation between myocardial ischemia and carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the correlation between myocardial ischemia and carotid atherosclerosis in hypertensive patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data were collected from 85 hospitalized hypertensive patients admitted between May 2005 and September 2008 without the complication of coronary artery disease as confirmed by cardiac computed tomographic angiography (CTA). According to the results of treadmill exercise test, the patients were divided myocardial ischemia group and ischemia-free group. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to screen the risk factors of myocardial ischemia. The correlations were analyzed between myocardial ischemia, common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), Crouse score of the carotid plaque, thickness of the intraventricular septum and left artrium. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of IMT and Crouse score in predicting the presence of myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Carotid plaque formation was identified as the major risk factor of myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients (OR=4.982, P=0.004). The incidence of myocardial ischemia in the hypertensive patients with carotid plaques was significantly higher than that in the patients without the plaque (Chi2=9.317, P=0.002). Myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients was positively correlated to the thickness of the intraventricular septum (r=0.362, P=0.001) and left artrium (r=0.298, P=0.009), and the IMT of the common carotid artery was positively correlated to the thickness of the intraventricular septum (r=0.231, P=0.045). The area under cure (AUC) of the ROC curve of Crouse score was 0.726-/+0.061 in predicting the presence of myocardial ischemia in the hypertensive patients (P=0.001), and that of IMT was 0.682-/+0.061 (P=0.006).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Carotid plaque formation is the major risk factor of myocardial ischemia in hypertensive patients and shows a positive correlation to the onset of myocardial ischemia, but both the common carotid artery IMT and the Crouse score of the carotid plaque are not accurate markers for predicting myocardial ischemia in patients with hypertension.</p>