The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of regular stretching exercise for 1 year on health related fitness of the elderly women. We also determined whether the weekly stretching exercise sessions followed by intensive stretching exercise program was beneficial to maintain the altered health related fitness status. The thirty elderly women (F, 80.1+/-6.6 yr) were participated in this study. Subjects had no serious orthopedic problems. During the study period, they did not perform any regular physical activity beside the stretching exercise. The 1 year stretching exercise programs included 3 days/week stretching exercise session for the first 12 weeks followed by 1 day/week stretching exercise for rest of the study period. The subjects were tested 6 categories of health related fitness factors which included % body fat, flexibility, hand grips, back strength, balance, and agility. The summary of the results of this study were as followed: 1) There were significant increase in FFM and slightly decrease in %BF and WHR after the 3 days/wk stretching exercise program. However, there were significant decrease in FFM and WHR after the 1 day/wk stretching exercise program (p<.05). 2) There were significant increase in flexibility, hand grip strength (Rt.) and balance after the 3 days/wk stretching exercise (p<.05) while hand grip strength (Lt.) and back strength were slightly increase after the exercise. However, there were significant decrease in hand grip strength (both) and reaction time after 1 day/wk stretching exercise program while flexibility, back strength, and balance were slighly decrease after the program. In conclusion, this study showed that the 3 days/wk stretching exercise for 12 weeks result in significant increase of all health related fitness factors (p<.05). However, it showed that some of the HRF factors were decreased after the weekly stretching exercise unexpectedly.
Adipose Tissue ; Aged* ; Female ; Hand ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Motor Activity ; Orthopedics ; Pliability ; Reaction Time

BACKGROUND: The nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), the region of the brain stem in which primary baroreceptor afferents teminate, is critically important in the normal regulation of arterial pressure (AP). In the NTS, excitatory amino acids such as L-glutamate serve as the main neurotransmitter in the regulation of AP. However, the function of GABA in the NTS has not been established. To test the function of GABA, we applied GABAergic agents to the NTS. METHODS: The experiments were conducted on adult male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 300-500g. A cannula (PE-50 tubing filled with heparinized saline) was inserted into the femoral artery for recording of AP and heart rate(HR). Another cannula was inserted into the femoral vein for administration of nitroprusside or phenylephrine. After rats were placed on a sterotaxic instrument, the dorsal surface of the medulla was exposed, and with the aid of a surgical microscope, the NTS was visualized. Drug injections were made into the NTS using single- or three-barreled grass micropipettes pulled to an outer diameter of 80-100(micro)m and connected to a 1(micro)l Hamilton syringe. RESULTS: The follwing results were obtained in this experiment. Injection into the NTS of 10 or 20 nmol nipecitic acid, a selective inhibitor of GABA untake, produced an increase in AP. The pressor responses evoked by two doses of nipecotic acid were not significantly different. Injection of GABA(A) agonist, musciml(5 pmol in 80 nl artificial CSF) and GABA(B) agonist, baclofen (20 pmol in 80 nl) into the NTS of urethane-anesthetized rats prodused an increase in AP of 16.6+/-1.3 and 27.6+/-1.5 mmHg, respectively. Thus the pressor response to GABA(B) agonist was greater than to GABA(A) agonist. On the other hand, microinjection of GABA(A) antagonist, bicuculline and GABA(B) antagonist, phaclofen into the NTS decreased AP by approximately 13.4+/-1.0 and 20.9+/- mmHg, respectively. Thus injection of nipecotic acid into the NTS was greater in control group compared with the muscimiol or baclofen groups. The AP changes caused by i.v. injection of nitroprusside or phenylephrine were smallest in control group and greatest in the baclofen group. When calculated as baroreflex sensitivity, the change was greatest in control group and smallest in the baclofen group. CONCLUSION: From these results it was concluded that GABA in the NTS plays an important role in the regulation of AP, especially through GABA(B) receptors, and have an inhibitory effect on baroreceptor reflex.
Adult ; Animals ; Arterial Pressure ; Baclofen ; Baroreflex ; Bicuculline ; Blood Pressure ; Brain Stem ; Catheters ; Excitatory Amino Acids ; Femoral Artery ; Femoral Vein ; GABA Agents ; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid* ; Glutamic Acid ; Hand ; Heart ; Heparin ; Humans ; Male ; Microinjections ; Neurotransmitter Agents ; Nitroprusside ; Phenylephrine ; Poaceae ; Pressoreceptors ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Solitary Nucleus* ; Syringes

PUPPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze related factors for major nursing diagnoses used in caring for institutionalized elders. METHOD: This study was a descriptive study. The participants were 92 residents in a long-term care facility in Wonju, selected by convenience sampling. The instrument was a checklist designed on the basis of the related factors suggested by NANDA (1997) and a literature review. Data was collected by chart review, observation, and interviews with the participants. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics with the SPSS WIN program. RESULT: The most frequent nursing diagnosis was 'risk for injury', 'self-esteem disturbance', 'activity intolerance', 'impaired phyical mobility', and 'powerlessness'. The most frequent component for related factors for the five component for each nursing diagnosis was the physical component, followed by the social component. Common related factors for the nursing diagnoses were 'pain', 'change of emotional state/disorder', 'cognitive disorder', 'change of physical structure and function', and 'physical impairment', and 'immobility'. CONCLUSION: The results of this study can contribute to the development of appropriate nursing intervention programs for elders (eg. 'Injury Prevention Programs', 'Self-esteem Improvement Programs' etc.). Clinical guidelines that gerontological nurses can use to accurately assess health problems and select appropriate nursing interventions may be developed.
Checklist ; Gangwon-do ; Long-Term Care ; Nursing Diagnosis* ; Nursing*

PURPOSE: 1) to construct cohorts according to risk scores calculated with the Gail Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (Gail et al., 1989) (Gail) and the Breast Cancer Risk Appraisal (Lee et al,. 2003) (Lee) 2) to identify the distribution of risk factors and preventive behavior stages between the cohorts 3) to identify abnormal breast conditions in risk cohort. METHOD: Using convenience sampling, 775 rural women were selected. Risk appraisal was scored using Gail and Lee. Preventive behavior stages for BSE (Breast self examination) and mammography were measured using 4 stages of the Transtheoretical Model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983). RESULTS: 1) The risk cohort according to Gail was 12.3% (n=95), and Lee, 3.1% (n=24). 2) There were significant differences in the distribution of risk factors (age, family history, age at 1st live birth, age at menarche, number of breast biopsy, history of breast disease, and breast-feeding) between cohorts. 3) There was a significant difference in the distribution of the stage of BSE according to Lee. 4) Six women in the risk group detected masses or nodules and physician consultation and ultrasonography were recommended. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the constructed cohorts, further longitudinal studies of cohorts are recommended with interventions according to characteristics of cohorts.
Biopsy ; Breast Diseases ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cohort Studies* ; Female ; Humans ; Live Birth ; Mammography ; Menarche ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Ultrasonography

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is a rare variant of adenocarcinoma that usually occurs in the major salivary gland. In breast, adenoid cystic carcinoma is a very rare carcinoma accounting for less than 1% of the all breast carcinoma. It has an excellent prognosis with the lower incidence of distant metastasis and axillary lymph node involvement, and a benign looking or low suspicious findings on imaging. We will report the radiologic and pathologic finding of the adenoid cystic carcinoma that is incidentally detected in the right breast of asymptomatic 47-year-old woman, who had taken annual screening mammogram and ultrasonogram.
Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoids* ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Nodes ; Mass Screening ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Salivary Glands ; Ultrasonography

Pertussis is a pediatric infectious disease with one of the highest degrees of infectivity. Although pertussis may cause asymptomatic infections in children and adults with immunity, it can cause life-threatening diseases in newborn babies or infants. We report three cases of pertussis in infants <3 months of age without DTaP immunization who have received symptomatic treatment with the diagnosis of bronchiolitis from other hospitals, and subsequently correctly diagnosed and treated. The patients did not have the characteristic whooping cough, but the main symptoms were episodic cough, intermittent vomiting, and cyanosis. Based on culture results for Bordetella pertussis and PCR, pertussis was diagnosed and treated without any complications. As it is assumed that adults, adolescents, and asymptomatic patients may serve as sources of infection, immunization with Tdap vaccine is recommended to prevent dissemination of pertussis from adolescents and adults to infants, and thus maintain herd immunity.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Asymptomatic Infections ; Bordetella pertussis ; Bronchiolitis ; Child ; Communicable Diseases ; Cough ; Cyanosis ; Humans ; Immunity, Herd ; Immunization ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Vomiting ; Whooping Cough

Thymoma is a rare neoplasm associated with a number of autoimmune disorders and tumors. Organizing pneumonia is a reaction of the lung to various injuries. A feature of organizing pneumonia is plugs of granulation tissue within the lumens of small airways, or alveoli. Causes of organizing pneumonia include various disorders and conditions; however, thymoma with organizing pneumonia located in both lungs is very rare. We report a case of resolving organizing pneumonia after thymoma resection. Our case is the first to demonstrate that resolving organizing pneumonia can occur after thymoma resection, as has been speculated by many researchers.
Granulation Tissue ; Lung ; Pneumonia ; Remission, Spontaneous ; Thymoma

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Congenital anomalies of the external ear occurs rarely, and has negative effects on children due to its unaesthetic appearance and hearing impairment. Thus surgical management is needed to correct the deformity and to gain hearing. Authors report the incidence of congenital anomalies of the external ear because there is no available data in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a hospital based survey and analyzed data from 9 hospitals in Taegu city and Kyungpook Province for the year of 1996. RESULTS: 1) Of the total of 33,898 births, 63 new borns were affected, and the incidence of anomaly was 18.5 per 10,000 births. 2) Incidence of male and female was 43 (68%) and 20 (32%). 3) Incidence of abnormalities is as follows: preauricular sinus was 7.0 per 10,000 births, polyotia was 4.4 per 10,000 births, lop ear was 2.1 per 10,000 births, bifid lobule was 0.9 per 10,000 births, macrotia was 0.9 per 10,000 births, Satyr ear was 0.6 per 10,000 births, microtia was 9.2 per 10,000 births, aural atresia was 3.2 per 10,000 births. 4) According to Marx's classification of the microtia, Grade I was 20, Grade II was 4, and Grade III was 8 cases.
Child ; Classification ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Daegu* ; Ear ; Ear, External* ; Female ; Gyeongsangbuk-do* ; Hearing ; Hearing Loss ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Korea ; Male ; Parturition

BACKGROUND: Autophagy is an important adaptive mechanism in normal development and in response to changing environmental stimuli in cancer. Previous papers have reported that different types of cancer underwent autophagy to obtain amino acids as energy source of dying cells in nutrient-deprived conditions. However, whether or not autophagy in the process of lung cancer causes death or survival is controversial. Therefore in this study, we investigated whether nutrient deprivation induces autophagy in human H460 lung cancer cells. METHODS: H460, lung cancer cells were incubated in RPMI 1640 medium, and the starved media, which are BME and RPMI media without serum, including 2-deoxyl-D-glucose according to time dependence. To evaluate the viability and find out the mechanism of cell death under nutrient-deprived conditions, the MTT assay and flow cytometry were done and analyzed the apoptotic and autophagic related proteins. It is also measured the development of acidic vascular organelles by acridine orange. RESULTS: The nutrient-deprived cancer cell is relatively sensitive to cell death rather than normal nutrition. Massive cytoplasmic vacuolization was seen under nutrient-deprived conditions. Autophagic vacuoles were visible at approximately 12 h and as time ran out, vacuoles became larger and denser with the increasing number of vacuoles. In addition, the proportion of acridine orange stain-positive cells increased according to time dependence. Localization of GFP-LC3 in cytoplasm and expression of LC-3II and Beclin 1 were increased according to time dependence on nutrient-deprived cells. CONCLUSION: Nutrient deprivation induces cell death through autophagy in H460 lung cancer cells.
Acridine Orange ; Amino Acids ; Autophagy ; Cell Death ; Cytoplasm ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Malnutrition ; Organelles ; Proteins ; Vacuoles

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers for cancer have several potential clinical uses, including the following: early cancer detection, monitoring for recurrence prognostication, and risk stratification. However, no biomarker has been shown to have adequate sensitivity and specificity. Many investigators have tried to validate biomarkers for the early detection and recurrence of lung cancer. To evaluate plasma G-CSF as such a biomarker, protein levels were measured and were found to correlate with the clinicopathological features of primary lung tumors. METHODS: Between December 2006 and May 2008, 100 patients with histologically-validated primary lung cancer were enrolled into this study. To serve as controls, 127 healthy volunteers were enrolled into this study. Plasma G-CSF levels were measured in lung cancer patients using the sandwich ELISA system (R & D inc.) prior to treatment. RESULTS: The mean plasma G-CSF levels were 12.2+/-0.3 pg/mL and 46.0+/-3.8 pg/mL (mean+/-SE) in the normal and in the cancer groups, respectively. In addition, plasma G-CSF levels were higher in patients with early lung cancer than in healthy volunteers (p<.001). Plasma G-CSF levels were higher in patients who were under 65 years old or smokers. Within the cancer group, plasma G-CSF levels were higher in patients with non small cell lung cancer than in patients with small cell lung cancer (p<.05). Overall, plasma G-CSF levels were shown to increase dependent upon the type of lung cancer diagnsosed. In the order from highest to lowest, the levels of plasma G-CSF tended to decrease in the following order: large cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and bronchioloalveolar carcinoma. Plasma G-CSF levels tended to be higher in patients with advanced TNM stage than in localized TNM stage (I, II Adenocarcinoma ; Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar ; Adrenal Glands ; Biomarkers ; Carcinoma, Large Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Lung ; Lung Neoplasms ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Plasma ; Recurrence ; Research Personnel ; Small Cell Lung Carcinoma