For purposes of research, palliative care patients should not be considered a vulnerable population.
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Biomedical Research↗
Biomedical subjects
S R Berry
Publications and source records attributed to S R Berry.
Compositional and structural control in bone regenerative coatings.
The development of a low-temperature method of producing bioactive coatings for medical implants has been shown to bypass the problems associated with high temperature processing routes, in particular the appearance of amorphous phases and non-stoichiometric hydroxyapatite (HA), and delamination of the coating from the substrate. An electric field/aqueous solution technique for producing adherent, crack-free calcium phosphate coatings on titanium and stainless steel substrates is described. The characteristics of the coating are a function of electrode spacing, supersaturation, temperature and current and voltage conditions. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterized the surface morphology of the coatings, which were shown to be HA. The possibility of producing a coating of carbonate-substituted HA having the same chemical composition as bone apatite, and forming at physiological temperatures, has also been demonstrated. The size of the microstructure decreased and the morphology changed as the carbonate ion concentration in the calcium and phosphate ion solution increased.
Journal Article↗
The cancer specific advance directive.
BACKGROUND: Advance directives are an important part of end of life care, but current advance directive documents do not address the specific issues facing cancer patients. The authors' purpose was: 1) to develop a cancer specific advance directive, 2) determine whether oncology outpatients find this directive more acceptable than a generic advance directive, and 3) describe oncology outpatient preferences for life-sustaining treatment. METHODS: A cancer specific advance directive ("The Cancer Living Will"; the full text of the updated version is available at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics website [URL: www.utoronto.ca/jcb]) was developed in four steps: 1) literature search, 2) key informant interviews, 3) focus groups, and 4) evaluation of face and content validity. Subsequently, 91 volunteer oncology patients were given copies of the cancer specific advance directive and the generic advance directive ("The University of Toronto Centre for Bioethics Living Will") from which it was adapted. Acceptability of the advance directive was measured by determining the participants' preferred directive. Participants recorded their treatment preferences in both the cancer specific and generic advance directives. RESULTS: Of 60 patients who returned their questionnaires, 50 expressed a preference for the advance directive. Thirty-two patients (64%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 49-77%) preferred the disease specific Cancer Living Will and 18 patients (36%; 95% CI, 23-51%) preferred the generic Centre for Bioethics Living Will. Most participants who preferred the Cancer Living Will did so because it was more specific and relevant to their situation. CONCLUSIONS: The authors have developed and evaluated a cancer specific advance directive that they believe can be recommended for clinical use with cancer patients.
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