Factors associated with the practice of nursing staff sharing information about patients' nutritional status with their colleagues in hospitals.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Nursing staff have an important role in patients' nutritional care. The aim of this study was to demonstrate how the practice of sharing a patient's nutritional status with colleagues was affected by the nursing staff's attitude, knowledge and their priority to provide nutritional care. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The participants were 492 nursing staff. We obtained participants' demographic data, the practice of sharing patients' nutritional information and information about participants' knowledge, attitude and priority of providing nutritional care by the questionnaire. We performed partial correlation analyses and linear regression analyses to describe the relationship between the total scores of the practice of sharing patients' nutritional information based on their knowledge, attitude and priority to provide nutritional care. RESULTS: Among the 492 participants, 396 nursing staff (80.5%) completed the questionnaire and were included in analyses. Mean±s.d. of total score of the 396 participants was 8.4±3.1. Nursing staff shared information when they had a high nutritional knowledge (r=0.36, P<0.01) and attitude (r=0.13, P<0.05); however, their correlation coefficients were low. In the linear regression analyses, job categories (ß=-0.28, P<0.01), knowledge (ß=0.33, P<0.01) and attitude (ß=0.10, P<0.05) were independently associated with the practice of sharing information. Nursing staff's priority to provide nutritional care practice was not significantly associated with the practice of sharing information. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge and attitude were independently associated with the practice of sharing patients' nutrition information with colleagues, regardless of their priority to provide nutritional care. An effective approach should be taken to improve the practice of providing nutritional care practice.

[A study of the psychological factors underlying weight-loss behavior among female adolescents].

PURPOSE: The purpose of present study was to investigate to the relationship between tendency to diet and psychological factors in female adolescents who were not obese. METHODS: The Japanese Decisional Balance Inventory (KC-DBI), Japanese Situational Appetite Efficacy (KC-SAM) and Japanese Diet Efficacy Measure-6 (KC-DEM6) were assessed. The participants were 853 female college students who were divided into underweight and normal groups with reference to their BMI. RESULTS: The results showed that score for KC-DBI, KC-SAM (negative feeling, hunger, relaxation) and KC-DEM6 differed with the degree of appetite change. A main effect on body figures was indicated only for KC-SAM (relaxation). There were no interactions in this analysis. Active participants showed a tendency to consider weight loss as a merit and to have fewer difficulties in controlling urges to overeat when they were feeling negative than the others. Furthermore, they had-little efficacy in controlling their desire to be thin. We suggest that discussion of the merits of weight loss and interventions to enhance eating behavior are effective for health promotion in female adolescents. DISCUSSION: This study indicates some suggestions for educating female adolescents about the problems related to inappropriate dieting, and the results can used in the development of intervention programs.

Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis with and without nephrotic syndrome in children.

The clinical presentation, initial laboratory and renal biopsy findings, and course of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) were studied retrospectively in 57 children in order to compare findings in those with and without nephrotic syndrome and to establish factors of prognostic significance. All patients had proteinuria. Eleven patients were otherwise asymptomatic, and nephrotic syndrome did not develop (group 1); 14 patients had asymptomatic proteinuria, but nephrotic syndrome subsequently developed (group 2); 32 patients had nephrotic syndrome (group 3). There were no differences between these three groups with regard to sex, age, initial renal function, incidence of hypertension and hematuria, and pathologic findings. At the latest follow-up, five group 1 patients, six in group 2, and 14 in group 3 had chronic renal failure; the incidence was similar for those with asymptomatic proteinuria and those with nephrotic syndrome. The location of the sclerosis within the glomerulus proved to have prognostic significance. All 12 patients with peripheral FSGS maintained normal renal function, whereas in 25 of the 44 with hilar FSGS chronic renal failure developed.

Glomerular podocyte vacuolation in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

An electron microscopic study of the nonsclerotic glomeruli or nonsclerosed segments of affected glomeruli was made in 34 children with nephrotic syndrome and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and in 34 children with minimal-change nephrotic syndrome. Particular attention was paid to alterations of glomerular epithelium. The most striking glomerular change in FSGS was vacuolation of the epithelial cell. Glomerular epithelial vacuolation was found in 21 of the 34 patients with FSGS. Eleven of these 21 patients with vacuoles developed chronic renal failure, while only one of the 13 patients without vacuoles developed renal failure. In minimal-change nephrotic syndrome only five of the 34 patients showed mild epithelial vacuolation. These observations are consistent with glomerular epithelial vacuolation contributing to the development and progression of the glomerular lesion in FSGS.

Twenty-seven children with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis: correlation between the segmental location of the glomerular lesions and prognosis.

Twenty-seven children with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) were studied for clinical and pathological manifestations in order to determine whether the location of the sclerotic lesions bears prognostic implications. There were 11 children with peripheral FSGS and 16 with hilar FSGS. During a mean follow-up period of 6 years, 10 of the 16 with hilar FSGS developed renal failure (GFR less than 20 ml/min/m2) but all of the 11 with peripheral FSGS maintained normal renal function. We suggest that FSGS may be divided into a hilar type with poor prognosis and a peripheral type with benign prognosis. It is conceivable that these two groups represent etiologically different entities.