Soot morphology: an application of image analysis in high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.

Interest in the fine structure of soots and carbon blacks is motivated by a variety of possible applications. The structure provides information on the origins of the particles and on their adsorptive and reactive properties. This paper describes a method for quantification of the structure of soots and carbon blacks based on direct electron microscopic observation followed by image analysis of these materials. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) provides a very detailed observation of particle structure. The differences in soot structure, because of its complexity, may not be easily quantifiable with the human eye; therefore, high-level computer software has been used to manipulate HRTEM images. This technique involves the application of fast Fourier transforms (FFT) to single particles and the measurement of characteristic parameters such as interplanar spacings and crystallite sizes from these particles. The methodology and application of this characterization technique are presented here. Results are shown for different samples obtained from soot and carbon black particles selected to illustrate the capabilities of the methodology. Quantitative information can be obtained on structural characteristics, e.g., interplanar spacing, circularity, orientation, elongation, and length distribution of lattice fringes, as well as on the fractional coverage of the extracted pattern.

Characterization by scanning transmission electron microscopy of silica particles from alveolar macrophages of coal miners.

The structure and composition of silica-rich particles recovered by lavage from the lungs of three active miners with different medical histories were studied using high-resolution electron microscopy and chemical microanalysis. The results are compared to the similarly determined structure and composition of respirable-size mineral particles obtained from roof-bolter dust-box samples from two coal mines of widely different bulk quartz concentrations. The results show that the lungs of the miners contain silica-based particles with structures not found in the mine samples. Also, the particle structures and compositions found in the macrophages were different in each of the miners. The results suggest that possibility that intracellular processes may affect the susceptibility of individuals to silica-induced pneumoconioses.

Professional attitudes toward hospice care.

Among studies made to determine the need for and feasibility of a hospice program at a major university hospital, a survey was made of the hospital professional staff's attitudes towards hospice care. The anonymous questionnaire was distributed in July 1983 to 395 faculty physicians, Department of Medicine house staff, hospital nurses, and clinical social workers. Among the 243 respondents (62% response rate), only 38% felt that current services were "satisfactory," with 90% of respondents indicating that the hospital needs a hospice program.

Effects of preparatory patient education for radiation oncology patients.

Sixty cancer patients undergoing their first course of radiotherapy were assigned to one of two patient education conditions as they entered treatment: patients in the high-information condition were shown an audiovisual program, presenting procedural and sensory information about radiotherapy; patients in the low-information condition received standard care without exposure to the patient education program. On the basis of psychologic testing, patients were also classified on "vigilant-avoidant" and "repression-sensitization" coping style dimensions. Outcome variables, assessed during the first and last weeks of treatment (T1 and T2, respectively) induced ratings of treatment-related knowledge, state anxiety, and total mood disturbance. Preparatory patient education produced positive results regardless of coping style. Patients in the high-information condition showed significantly greater treatment-related knowledge (at T1) and less emotional distress (at T2). There was no significant main effect for coping style, nor was there an interaction effect (coping style by intervention condition). Results are discussed in terms of the manifest need for preparatory information in radiation therapy settings, the role of coping style factors, and the clinical utility of patient education interventions.

Cancer counseling by telephone help-line: the UCLA Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Line.

This paper describes the Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Line (PCCL) of the University of California at Los Angeles, a National Cancer Institute-supported communications project in which the feasibility of providing psychological support to cancer patients and their significant others by telephone has been explored. Staffed by a combination of professional and paraprofessional volunteer counselors, the PCCL provides (a) direct telephone counseling to cancer patients, their families, and their friends; (b) referrals, when necessary, to community resources relevant to the psychosocial needs of callers; and (c) telephone consultation and information to health professionals. Call-record data reveal that the service is used mainly by family and friends of patients (45 percent of callers) and by patients themselves (23 percent), who represent a wide range of cancer diagnoses. Demographically, the modal caller is a well-educated, white, non-Hispanic woman in her thirties. Among the many different psychosocial concerns presented by callers, the most frequently discussed issues are requests for referral to a support group, anxiety associated with the disease or its treatment, family problems engendered or exacerbated by illness, and difficulties in doctor-patient communications. On the basis of the PCCL experience, the author argues that a telephone counseling service can perform important functions within the broad spectrum of psychosocial services needed by cancer patients and their families. These functions include provision of information, needs assessment, linkage to health professionals, psychological interventions during intervals between in-person contacts, provision of continuing emotional support not available elsewhere, and outreach to psychologically underserved populations.

Death education for oncology professionals: a personal construct theory perspective.

Using observations from a psychosocial training program for oncology professionals, this article illustrates how one can model, while training the student, the very methods he or she can adopt in working with patients and families. One starts with an elicitation of the student's (patient's) operative personal constructs and then devises strategies to elaborate, integrate, loosen, tighten, preempt, or take other action, as needed. The very means used to promote movement within the student's own death-related constructs can be adopted for use by him or her in the clinical situation. As the helper's pathways of action and thought with regard to this domain become more comprehensive and as the helper becomes more skilled at moving freely along them, he or she becomes more perceptive and resourceful to those in need.