Several studies have noted modest interrater reliability of clinical electroencephalogram (EEG) interpretations. Moreover, no study to date has investigated a means to improve the observed interrater agreement. The purpose of the present study was to examine (i) the interrater reliability of EEG interpretations among three raters (two psychiatrists and one pediatrician); and (ii) how to improve the reliability by establishing a consensus guideline for EEGinterpretation. Three raters, two psychiatrists and a pediatrician, interpreted 100 consecutive EEG recorded at Tajimi General Hospital. After discussing the results of the first trial, the raters established a consensus guideline for EEG interpretation. They then interpreted 50 consecutive EEG recorded at Nagoya City University Hospital following this guideline. Kappa for global judgment of EEG abnormality in three grades (abnormal/borderline/normal) was 0.42 on the first and 0.63 on the second trial. Kappa significantly improved by using the guideline ( P = 0.004). It is suggested that discussing and establishing the consensus guideline among the raters offers a feasible method to improve interrater reliability in clinical EEG interpretations.

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin 8 levels of the perfusate were elevated during EVLP. Although adverse effects of these inflammatory cytokines were anticipated, removal of inflammatory cytokines by the adsorbent membrane did not improve lung function during prolonged EVLP. Factors other than the cytokines may play a major role in causing lung injury during EVLP. Further research is needed to investigate the real mechanism of lung graft injury during prolonged EVLP and to establish longer EVLP duration for graft treatment. This strategy could contribute to the salvage of potentially damaged lungs, especially from cardiac death donors, and to expansion of the donor pool.

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Until now most of the research on social support has concentrated on general support in relationship to the whole group of people around each individual. In contrast, only a few studies have dealt with individual-specific support (i.e. social support from a particular individual relationship). The Quality of Relationship Inventory (QRI) is a recently developed questionnaire to measure individual-specific social support. We developed the Japanese version by means of back translation and ascertained its reliability and validity among the Japanese women who had had two recurrent spontaneous abortions without known organic etiologies. Factor analysis revealed that the Japanese QRI had a two-factor structure, representing supportive and conflictual aspects of a particular relationship (named Factor-S and Factor-C, respectively). Each factor showed satisfactory reliability with Cronbach's alphas of 0.95 and 0.89. When the QRI scores were compared with the scales from the Social Support Questionnaire, a measure of general social support, the Factor-C of the former with respect to the mother correlated negatively with the Social Support Satisfaction of the latter (r = -0.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.64 to -0.09).Childhood experiences with parents also showed expected correlations with the QRI: care received from the parent before age 16 years strongly predicted Factor-S with that parent (r = 0.50, 95% CI 0.21-0.71 in the case of the mother; r = 0.54, 95% CI 0.27-0.73 in the case of the father). Although we still need to examine the Japanese QRI with different populations, it appears to be a promising measure of individual-specific relationship for the Japanese population.