Objective: Although depression is a prevalent and burdensome psychiatric problem in end-of-life cancer patients, little is known about its susceptibility to treatment, especially when patients reach very close to the end of life. This study was conducted to evaluate response rate of that end-of-life depression to psychiatric intervention and to assess the feasibility of conventional evidence-based pharmacological therapy for depression.

Methods: The medical records of 20 patients who were referred to the psychiatry division for major depressive disorder and died within 3 months after the referral were reviewed. The Clinical Global Impression–Improvement (CGI-I) Scale was used for each case, and responders were defined as patients whose scores were much or very much improved. All pharmacological treatments were extracted, and the doses of the antidepressant prescribed were compared to their evidence-based-defined therapeutic doses.

Results: Of the 20 patients, seven were responders, but no response was achieved when the survival time was less than 3 weeks. Most patients were treated with antidepressants, but the doses prescribed were far less than the defined doses, especially the doses of the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs).

Significance of results: These results suggested that patients' survival time largely determines susceptibility to psychiatric treatment, and it is hard to achieve response in patients whose survival time was less than about 1 month. Implementation of conventional evidence-based pharmacological treatment is difficult, especially with TCAs, and various antidepressants, which can be administrated by other routes, are needed when oral intake is impossible.

Movement pattern of the Iriomote cat Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis was studied on Iriomote Island, Japan by radio-tracking. The influence of sex and reproductive status of cats on their daily movement distance (DMD), straight-line distance (SLD), daily movement range (DMR) and other relative indices of movements was estimated. DMD was longest in males (3.2 km) and shortest in females without kittens (1.9 km). Also, males moved faster than either females with or without kittens (0.34, 0.25 and 0.25 km/h, respectively). During the mating season, males moved faster and their DMRs were larger than during the rest of the year. The SLD/DMD ratio in males was similarly high in both seasons (0.29 and 0.33), which indicates that their daily routes were expanded over large areas year-round, possibly to maintain a continuous control over their home range. In contrast, SLD/DMD varied seasonally in breeding females. It was low (0.09) during the lactating period, when females returned repeatedly to the den with kittens and it became high (0.32) out of the breeding season. Breeding females moved equally long DMDs in both seasons, whereas non-breeding ones moved shorter distances during the breeding period. These differences may be related to seasonal changes of food abundance. Cats moved intensively, as indicated by long (812–1139 m) routes per km2 of their home range, and occasionally visited distant parts of their ranges in a short time (4–5 days). On the other hand, they showed a relatively slow increase of the patrolled area, from 10% to 36% of their home ranges, in the first and fifth day, respectively. Movement pattern of Iriomote cats showed no clear relation to active defence of home ranges.

Objective: Although surgery for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is generally considered curative, the outcome is still unsatisfactory, leaving patients faced with uncertainty and fear of recurrence for a long time after surgery. The purpose of this study was to clarify the course of patients' mental adjustment after surgery for NSCLC and to identify predictors of long-term outcome.

Methods: A total of 205 patients completed a baseline interview for patient characteristics at 1 month after curative resection of NSCLC and for social support at 3 months, and the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale at 3 and 12 months. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify predictors of their psychological outcome.

Results: The helplessness/hopelessness subscale score improved slightly after curative resection (p < .001), but the score on the fighting spirit subscale score was unchanged (p = .659). Significant predictors of helplessness/hopelessness at 12 months included helplessness/hopelessness at 3 months and advanced disease stage, and satisfaction with confidants. Significant predictors of fighting spirit at 12 months included fighting spirit at 3 months existence of confidants.

Significance of results: The results suggested that mental adjustment improved slightly after curative resection for NSCLC. They also suggested the need to maintain continuity of psychosocial care that provides social support, and that an approach that includes careful attention to patients with advanced stage disease may be a strategy for improving mental adjustment after surgery for NSCLC.