The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Korean traditional dance movement training on balance, gait and leg strength in elderly women who are forced to remain at home. Fifteen elderly women of an experimental group between the ages 65 and 75 years who have normal vision and passed the hearing and Romberg test, participated in the 12 weeks' dance movement training. Fourteen subjects of a control group were selected. Korean traditional dance movement training was developed on the basis of Korean traditional dance and music by the authors. It took approximately 50 minutes to perform the dance movement program. The subjects of the experimental group practiced dance training for 3 times a week during 12 weeks. During the 50 minutes workout, the subjects practiced 15 minutes of a warm-up dance, 25 minutes of a conditioning dance, and 10 minutes of a cool-down dance. The intensity for the conditioning phase was between 60% and 65% of age-adjusted maximum heart rates. The balance, gait and leg strength were measured prior to and after the experimental treatment. Total balance scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Scores of sternal nudge, one leg standing balance and reaching up among 13 items have significantly increased after the dance movement training. Total scores of gait of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group following the korean traditional dance movement training. Scores of experimental group in step height, path deviation and turning while walking among 9 items have increased significantly following 12 weeks of dance movement training. The leg strength of experimental group was significantly higher than those of the control group following the Korean traditional dance movement training. The balance, gait and leg strength have significantly correlated in the experimental group following the Korean traditional dance movement training. The results suggest that Korean traditional dance movement training can improve balance, gait and leg strength in home bound elderly women.
Aged* ; Female ; Gait* ; Hearing ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Leg* ; Music ; Walking

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of Korean traditional dance movement training on balance, gait and leg strength in elderly women who are forced to remain at home. Fifteen elderly women of an experimental group between the ages 65 and 75 years who have normal vision and passed the hearing and Romberg test, participated in the 12 weeks' dance movement training. Fourteen subjects of a control group were selected. Korean traditional dance movement training was developed on the basis of Korean traditional dance and music by the authors. It took approximately 50 minutes to perform the dance movement program. The subjects of the experimental group practiced dance training for 3 times a week during 12 weeks. During the 50 minutes workout, the subjects practiced 15 minutes of a warm-up dance, 25 minutes of a conditioning dance, and 10 minutes of a cool-down dance. The intensity for the conditioning phase was between 60% and 65% of age-adjusted maximum heart rates. The balance, gait and leg strength were measured prior to and after the experimental treatment. Total balance scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group. Scores of sternal nudge, one leg standing balance and reaching up among 13 items have significantly increased after the dance movement training. Total scores of gait of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group following the korean traditional dance movement training. Scores of experimental group in step height, path deviation and turning while walking among 9 items have increased significantly following 12 weeks of dance movement training. The leg strength of experimental group was significantly higher than those of the control group following the Korean traditional dance movement training. The balance, gait and leg strength have significantly correlated in the experimental group following the Korean traditional dance movement training. The results suggest that Korean traditional dance movement training can improve balance, gait and leg strength in home bound elderly women.
Aged* ; Female ; Gait* ; Hearing ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Leg* ; Music ; Walking

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop a Korean version of Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (K-PASE) from PASE and to evaluate the validity and reliability of the K-PASE. This scale was originally developed by Washburn et al. (1993). A valid and reliable physical activity scale for the elderly is needed to assess accurately physical activity of the elderly, because there has been no valid and reliable physical activity scale for the elderly in Korea. METHODS: The K-PASE was developed from PASE through linguistic validation and cultural adaptation for use with this population. Convenient sampling was used to recruit participants. Reliability was evaluated by conducting the test-retest and convergent validity was evaluated by Pearson correlation. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability, assessed over a 2 week interval, was r=.94. Convergent validity was established by correlating the K-PASE scores between related variables which were the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology Index of Competence (TMIG-IC) and hand-grip strength. Scores of the K-PASE had a low significant correlation with TMIG-IC (r=.246, p<.001), and hand-grip strength (r=.251, p<.001). The mean score of physical activity of Korean elderly assessed by the K-PASE was 96.5. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the K-PASE is a reliable and valid instrument to assess physical activity for Korean elderly.
Aged ; Geriatrics ; Humans ; Korea ; Linguistics ; Mental Competency ; Motor Activity ; Reproducibility of Results ; Tokyo

PURPOSE: The purposes of this study was to identify the health status, health-related life habits, activities of daily living and biophysical index of the elderly in Korea and Japan respectively, and to compare the Korean elderly with those of the Japanese elderly. METHOD: Two hundred ninety five elderly from Korea and 325 elderly from Japan, aged over 65 years were conveniently recruited from welfare centers in both countries. Health status, health-related life habits, and activities of daily living were assessed by self-report questionnaires. BMI, lean body mass, body fat, body fat rate, muscle area of limbs and grip strength were measured for biophysical indices. Descriptive statistics, non paired t-test and Chi-square test were used to describe and to compare the levels of these variables. RESULTS: The mean scores on frequencies of Korean and Japanese elders' chronic diseases were 2.9 and 0.8. The mean scores on activities of daily living were 9.8 and 12.4 respectively. The Korean elderly had higher mean scores of BMI, and body fat rate than The Japanese elderly, and showed lower mean scores of muscle areas of the lower extremities and grip strength. Hypertension was the most prevalent disease in the both groups. CONCLUSION: Significant differences in several variables of health status, health-related life habits, activities of daily living and biophysical index were noted between the Korean and Japanese elderly.
Activities of Daily Living* ; Adipose Tissue ; Aged* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Chronic Disease ; Extremities ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Japan ; Korea ; Lower Extremity ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: In the Duffy blood group system (Fy(a), Fy(b), Fy(x), and Fy antigens), Fy(x) antigen is associated with weak Fy(b) while Fy antigen means the null phenotype Fy (a-b-). Fyx antigen and Fy antigen result from the polymorphisms of Fy125 allele. This report assessed the allele frequency and genotype frequency of Fy(a), Fy(b), Fy(x), and Fy antigens in Koreans. METHODS: We performed a study of the followings on 253 visitors to the health promotion center of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital: PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSP for the detection of Duffy 125G > A and -33T > C; PCR-SSP for the detection of Duffy 265C > T and 298G > A. RESULTS: The results of PCR-RFLP and PCR-SSP were consistent with each other in a total of 253 subjects. Allele frequency was as follows: Fy 92.3%, Fy(125) 6.1%, and fy(125/265) 1.6%. The fy(125/265) allele was newly observed. Fy(125/298), fy(125/265/298), and fy(-33/125) alleles were not detected in Koreans. The distribution of Duffy phenotypes in Koreans was as follows: Fy (a+b-) 88.1%, Fy (a-b+) 0.4%, Fy (a+b+) 11.5%, and Fy (a-b-) 0.0%. Fy (a+) was 99.6% and Fy (b+) was 11.9%. CONCLUSION: In our study for Duffy polymorphisms, the frequency of Fy allele was very high. The frequency was similar to those of other Asian populations, but different from those of Caucasians. The fy(125/265) allele, which was associated with Fy(x) antigen, was newly detected in Koreans.
Alleles* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Duffy Blood-Group System ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Seoul

The prevalence of circulating immune complexes (CIC), their role and their relationship to cell-mediated immunity in patients with hepatitis B virus associated liver disease are still controversial. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of CIC and their relationship to viral markers, to subsets of peripheral blood T lymphocytes and to suppressor cell activity in patients with hepatitis B virus associated liver diseases. CIC were positive in 29.3% of 41 healthy HBsAg carriers, 37.8% of 88 patients with hepatitis B virus associated liver diseases, and 15% of 41 healthy subjects by the platelet aggregation test (PAT). The prevalence of CIC in patients with acute hepatitis (40.0%) and in those with cirrhosis (61.5%) was significantly higher than in normal controls (p less than 0.05, p less than 0.005 respectively). There was no correlation between the titer of CIC and serum HBsAg titer or the status of HBeAg, and no significant decrease in the peripheral blood lymphocyte CD4/CD8 ratio in healthy HBsAg carriers (1.39 +/- 0.31) and in patients with liver diseases (1.40 +/- 0.54) compared to the normal controls (1.48 +/- 0.31). Concanavalin A induced suppressor cell activity on IgG producing cells was impaired in healthy HBsAg carriers (34.9%) (p less than 0.005) and in patients with liver diseases (25.3%) (p less than 0.0001), and this change was prominent in patients with chronic active hepatitis and cirrhosis (p less than 0.0001). And there was a significant reverse correlation between concanavalin A induced suppressor cell activity on IgG-producing cells and the titer of CIC in PAT positive patients with hepatitis B virus associated liver diseases. In conclusion, it was suggested that defective suppressor cell function may lead to an increased B cell activation and such activity may account for the presence of CIC.
Acute Disease ; Antigen-Antibody Complex/*blood ; Chronic Disease ; Hepatitis Antibodies/blood ; Hepatitis B/blood/*immunology ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens/analysis ; Hepatitis B Virus/immunology ; Hepatitis B e Antigens/immunology ; Human ; Immunity, Cellular ; Liver Cirrhosis/blood/immunology ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; T-Lymphocytes, Suppressor-Effector

BACKGROUND: Ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease are the main causes of death and platelets are responsible for the formation of arterial thrombi. Platelet membrane glycoproteins (GP) associated with coagulation pathway are GPIb/V/IX, GPIa/IIa, and GPIIb/IIIa. We evaluated genotype and allele frequencies of seven platelet glycoprotein genes associated with arterial thrombosis. METHODS: Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood of 300 unrelated Korean and single nucleotide polymorphism of platelet glycoproteins was analyzed. PCR with sequence specific primers was used to investigate GPIa C807T and GPIbalpha VNTR polymorphism. PCR-RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) was used to investigate GPIa G1648A and C2531T, GPIbalpha C524T and T-5C, and GPIIIa T1565C polymorphism. RESULTS: The allele frequencies of GPIa C807T were 807C 0.733, 807T 0.267; GPIa 1648G 0.975, 1648A 0.025; GPIa C2531T, 2531C 1.000, 2531T 0.000; GPIbalpha C524T, 524C 0.927, 524T 0.073; GPIbalpha VNTR, A 0.017, B 0.015, C 0.558, D 0.410; GPIbalpha T-5C, -5T 0.726, -5C 0.274; GPIIIa T1565C, 1565T 0.995, 1565C 0.005. CONCLUSION: The genotype and allele frequencies of GPIa G1648A, GPIbalpha C524T, and GPIIIa T1565C were similar to established data. GPIa 807T and -5T allele of Kozak polymorphism showed low frequency compared with other ethnic group. Allele frequencies of GPIbalpha VNTR A and B alleles were very alike (0.017 vs 0.015). In this study, we firstly evaluated the genotype and allele frequencies of GPIa C2531T and GPIbalpha VNTR, T-5C polymorphisms in Korean population. This study will serve as a basic data for the study of platelet glycoproteins associated with arterial thrombosis in Korean.
Alleles* ; Blood Platelets* ; Cause of Death ; DNA ; Ethnic Groups ; Gene Frequency* ; Genotype* ; Glycoproteins* ; Humans ; Integrin alpha2 ; Integrin beta3 ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Platelet Membrane Glycoproteins ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Thrombosis*

We compared the diagnostic accuracy of liquid-based cervicovaginal cytology using MonoPrep2(TM) system (Monogen, Herndon, Virginia, USA), a manual system based on membrane filtration method, with conventional Pap smear. Study population included 92 patients visiting the gynecologic department under the suspicion of uterine cervical disease. In thirty of them, surgical biopsy was performed. MonoPrep2(TM) system provided well-preserved monolayer specimen with good nuclear morphology. However, about 19% of specimens were inadequate to interpret due to low cellularity. The detection rate of abnormal cells more than ASCUS (atypical squamous cells of unknown significance) was 23.9% and higher than 19.4 % of conventional Pap smear. Diagnostic concordance rate with conventional Pap smear was 81%, and severe discordance rate influencing on the management of patient was 7.6 %. Among these seven cases, MonoPrep2(TM) system was more diagnostic only in four. In comparison with histology, the sensitivity of diagnosis of MonoPrep2(TM) system was 78.9% and slightly higher than 73.5% of conventional Pap smear. However, the specificity was 81.1% and lower than 90.9% of Pap smear. In conclusion, MonoPrep2(TM) system provided diagnostic accuracies similar to the conventional Pap smear. The inexpertness of slide preparation and the low cellularity were considered to endow a limitation in more accurate evaluation.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Filtration ; Humans ; Membranes ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Uterine Cervical Diseases ; Virginia

BACKGROUND: Saliva is considered an important vector for the Helicobacter pylori infection. The presence of the babA2 gene, encoding for BabA (blood-group antigen binding adhesin), in the H. pylori genome is crucial for H. pylori-related pathogenesis. METHODS: The study was performed in the group of 215 patients. The detection of H. pylori and babA2 in saliva and gastric tissue was done by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Moreover, gastric tissues were stained with hematoxylin-eosin as well as with modified Giemsa methods for the analysis of Helicobacter pylori density. RESULTS: The positive rate of H. pylori by nested PCR was 78.6% in gastric tissue and 72.7% in saliva. In addition, the positive rate of H. pylori was 55.5% by the histological analysis of Helicobacter pylori density in gastric tissue. The positive rate of babA2 by PCR was 33.9% in gastric tissue, and 8.2% in saliva. CONCLUSION: We revealed that the H. pylori PCR results obtained in gastric tissue correlated well with those obtained in saliva. As saliva is more available specimen, it is more suitable for clinical application of H. pylori detection by PCR. However, clinical use of - BabA PCR seems to be limited because of its low-sensitivity.
Genome ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Saliva*

Splenic infarction is a rare disease and usually detected as a complication of SBE, atrial fibrillation, hemoglobinopathy, or myeloproliperative disorders. Although thrombotic event, such as deep vein, cerebral or renal thrombosis, is a frequent complication of SLE, there have been only a couple of cases documenting splenic infarction complicated in SLE. This is, to our knowledge, the first case report describing isolated splenic infarction in pediatric SLE. The splenic infarction was diagnosed on abdominal CT, 99mTc-RBC splenic scan, and abdominal USG, and resolved with anticoagulant therapy. And we discussed about the possibility of antiphospholipid syndrome as a cause of the infarction in this case.
Antiphospholipid Syndrome ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cerebral Veins ; Female* ; Hemoglobinopathies ; Humans ; Infarction ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Rare Diseases ; Splenic Infarction* ; Thrombosis ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed