J Formos Med Assoc
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The St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) is a disease-specific quality-of-life instrument. It was designed to measure quality of life in obstructive pulmonary disease, and its reliability and validity have been demonstrated in different language versions. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of a Chinese language version of the SGRQ in Taiwanese asthma patients. ⋯ This study demonstrated that the Chinese language version of the SGRQ has internal consistency and validity with strong evidence of content, concurrent, and discriminating validity in Taiwanese asthma patients. These findings suggest that it is a useful measure of quality of life in Taiwanese asthma patients.
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Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a spindle cell malignancy of endothelial cell origin. The tumor has been demonstrated to be associated with human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) or Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-like virus (KSHV). Previous studies have revealed the distribution of unique viral strains in different ethnic populations. Eastern Taiwan has an ethnically mixed population with a relatively high incidence of KS. This study was designed to characterize the clinicopathologic features of KS and to evaluate the HHV-8 strain distribution in the Hua-Lien area of Eastern Taiwan. ⋯ This study found a high proportion of iatrogenic KS and the finding of a rarely described strain D virus in Eastern Taiwan aborigines. Our studies further confirm the distribution of different types of KS and virus strains in different ethnic populations.