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Background: The Ministries of Justice and Education have implemented adolescent substance abuse prevention programs for many years. Rates of substance abuse among high school students continue to rise in spite of such programs. Purpose: This study investigates adolescents' substance abuse-related knowledge and attitudes and self-confidence to resist substance use in order to identify predictive factors of poor adolescent resistance to substance use. Methods: A cross-sectional study survey gathered data on substance abuse-related knowledge and attitudes and self-confidence to resist substance use from 243 second-year senior high school students studying at two schools in northern Taiwan. Results: Participants were most knowledgeable about tobacco (80.2%), followed by alcohol (72.0%), ecstasy (56.0%), and marijuana (30.0%). Only 19.3% demonstrated an understanding of the harmful effects of using Ketamine. A 10-point Likert scale measured participant substance use attitudes. Alcohol was the substance participants were most willing to use (2.18 ± 3.27), followed by tobacco (0.66 ± 2.19), ecstasy (0.45 ± 1.88), Ketamine (0.43 ± 1.93), and marijuana (0.38 ± 1.83). Participants had higher awareness of the harmful effects of Ketamine (t = -2.37, p = .018), marijuana (t = -2.33, p = .021), and tobacco (t = -2.02, p = .044), with participants reporting greater self-confidence to resist using these three substances. Multiple regression analysis found the three most important factors affecting participant self-confidence to resist substance use to be gender (ß = .26, p < .001), knowledge about the substance (ß = .15, p = .028), and attitude toward substance use (ß = -.20, p < .001). Conclusions / Implications for Practice: Level of harmful effects knowledge and attitudes toward use varied among the various substances considered in this paper. Being female, having strong knowledge about the substance, and negative attitude toward substance use correlated with higher levels of self-confidence to resist substance use. Study results will be used in ongoing research designed to establish an empirical basis for adolescent substance use prevention and research, the results of which may be used directly by school nurses and military training education nurses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazilein, a natural, biologically active compound from Caesalpinia sappan L., has been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and to inhibit the growth of several cancer cells. This study verifies the antioxidant and antitumor characteristics of brazilein in skin cancer cells and is the first time to elucidate the inhibition mechanism of adipocyte differentiation, cestocidal activities against Hymenolepis nana, and reduction of spontaneous movement in Anisakis simplex. Brazilein exhibits an antioxidant capacity as well as the ability to scavenge DPPH• and ABTS•+ free radicals and to inhibit lipid peroxidation. Brazilein inhibited intracellular lipid accumulation during adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells and suppressed the induction of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), the master regulator of adipogenesis, suggesting that brazilein presents the antiobesity effects. The toxic effects of brazilein were evaluated in terms of cell viability, induction of apoptosis, and the activity of caspase-3 in BCC cells. The inhibition of the growth of skin cancer cells (A431, BCC, and SCC25) by brazilein is greater than that of human skin malignant melanoma (A375) cells, mouse leukemic monocyte macrophage (RAW 264.7 cells), and noncancerous cells (HaCaT and BNLCL2 cells). The anthelmintic activities of brazilein against Hymenolepis nana are better than those of Anisakis simplex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and safety of thoracoscopic lobectomy without endotracheal intubation., Summary Background Data: General anesthesia with single-lung ventilation is considered mandatory for thoracoscopic lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy has not been reported previously., Methods: From August 2009 through June 2010, some 30 consecutive patients with clinical stage I or II NSCLC were treated by nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy using epidural anesthesia, intrathoracic vagal blockade, and sedation. To evaluate the feasibility and safety of this novel technique, they were compared with a control group consisting of 30 consecutive patients with clinical stage I or II NSCLC who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy using intubated general anesthesia from August 2008 through July 2009., Results: Collapse of the operative lung and inhibition of coughing were satisfactory in the nonintubated patients, induced by spontaneous breathing, and vagal blockade. Three patients in the nonintubated group required conversion to intubated-single lung ventilation because of persistent hypoxemia, poor epidural anesthesia pain control, and bleeding. One patient in each group was converted to thoracotomy because of bleeding. The 2 groups had comparable anesthesia durations, surgical durations, blood loss, and numbers of dissected lymph nodes. Patients who underwent nonintubated surgery had lower rates of sore throat (6.7% vs 40.0%, P = 0.002) and earlier resumption of oral intake (mean, 4.7 hours vs 18.8 hours, P < 0.001). Patients undergoing nonintubated surgery also had a trend toward better noncomplication rates (90% vs 66.7%, P = 0.057) and shorter postoperative hospital stays (mean, 5.9 days vs 7.1 days, P = 0.078)., Conclusions: Nonintubated thoracoscopic lobectomy is technically feasible and is as safe as lobectomy performed with intubation in highly selected patients. It can be a valid alternative of single-lung-ventilated thoracoscopic surgery in managing early-stage NSCLC.