PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine, using prenatal ultrasongraphy, normal fetal foot length and the femur length ratio during the second trimester of a normal pregnancy in Korean women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From May to July 1999, and in September of the same year, 1018 normal Korean singleton pregnancies showing no abnormality on prenatal sonograms were included in this study. The gestational age ranged from 19 to 30 weeks. Femur and foot length were measured by one radiologist. Regression analysis was performed for foot length and gestational age, and the mean value of the femur/foot length ratio and 95th percentile confidence interval of that mean value were calculated. The data obtained was compared with that obtained from caucasians. RESULTS: Foot length correlated with gestational age (r 2=0.87, p value = 0.0001). The regression formula was as follows; Gestational age (days) = 70.98-2.15 x foot length (mm). Mean foot length at each gestational week was not different from the corresponding figure for Cancasians. The mean (+/-SD) value of the femur/foot length ratio was 0.96 (+/-0.05) and the 95th percentile confidence interval of that mean value was 0.96+/-0.000301, figures which are significantly lower than those for Caucasians. CONCLUSION: Fetal foot length during the second trimester of a normal pregnancy in Korean women is a reliable parameter for use in the assessment of gestational age. In our study the fetal foot length was not different from that of caucasians, while the femur/foot length ratio was lower than the value in that group. The nomogram depicted in of this study will serve as a useful adjunct in the screening of chromosomal abnormality or skeletal dysplasia among Koreans.
Chromosome Aberrations ; Female ; Femur ; Foot* ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Nomograms ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second* ; Pregnancy*

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the key factors in nursing workforce management for pandemic response in general hospitals and long-term care hospitals and to analyze the relative importance of these factors. Methods: A validity test was conducted with experts to select four categories and 30 key factors related to nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Surveys were collected from 25 nursing managers in general hospitals and 21 nursing managers in long-term care hospitals, and the relative importance of the key factors was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process method. Results: Differences were found between the two groups in the relative importance of nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Specifically, the highest-ranking category was “workforce recruitment and redeployment” for general hospitals, but “workforce support and protection” for long-term care hospitals. The most important factor regarding nursing workforce management was the “nurse-to-patient ratio” for both general and long-term care hospitals. Conclusion General and long-term care hospitals need to establish nursing workforce management strategies to effectively respond to pandemics with appropriate consideration of the relative importance and prioritization of key factors based on hospital characteristics.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the key factors in nursing workforce management for pandemic response in general hospitals and long-term care hospitals and to analyze the relative importance of these factors. Methods: A validity test was conducted with experts to select four categories and 30 key factors related to nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Surveys were collected from 25 nursing managers in general hospitals and 21 nursing managers in long-term care hospitals, and the relative importance of the key factors was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process method. Results: Differences were found between the two groups in the relative importance of nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Specifically, the highest-ranking category was “workforce recruitment and redeployment” for general hospitals, but “workforce support and protection” for long-term care hospitals. The most important factor regarding nursing workforce management was the “nurse-to-patient ratio” for both general and long-term care hospitals. Conclusion General and long-term care hospitals need to establish nursing workforce management strategies to effectively respond to pandemics with appropriate consideration of the relative importance and prioritization of key factors based on hospital characteristics.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the key factors in nursing workforce management for pandemic response in general hospitals and long-term care hospitals and to analyze the relative importance of these factors. Methods: A validity test was conducted with experts to select four categories and 30 key factors related to nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Surveys were collected from 25 nursing managers in general hospitals and 21 nursing managers in long-term care hospitals, and the relative importance of the key factors was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process method. Results: Differences were found between the two groups in the relative importance of nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Specifically, the highest-ranking category was “workforce recruitment and redeployment” for general hospitals, but “workforce support and protection” for long-term care hospitals. The most important factor regarding nursing workforce management was the “nurse-to-patient ratio” for both general and long-term care hospitals. Conclusion General and long-term care hospitals need to establish nursing workforce management strategies to effectively respond to pandemics with appropriate consideration of the relative importance and prioritization of key factors based on hospital characteristics.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the key factors in nursing workforce management for pandemic response in general hospitals and long-term care hospitals and to analyze the relative importance of these factors. Methods: A validity test was conducted with experts to select four categories and 30 key factors related to nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Surveys were collected from 25 nursing managers in general hospitals and 21 nursing managers in long-term care hospitals, and the relative importance of the key factors was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process method. Results: Differences were found between the two groups in the relative importance of nursing workforce management for pandemic response. Specifically, the highest-ranking category was “workforce recruitment and redeployment” for general hospitals, but “workforce support and protection” for long-term care hospitals. The most important factor regarding nursing workforce management was the “nurse-to-patient ratio” for both general and long-term care hospitals. Conclusion General and long-term care hospitals need to establish nursing workforce management strategies to effectively respond to pandemics with appropriate consideration of the relative importance and prioritization of key factors based on hospital characteristics.

Purpose: Overweight (OW)/obese girls tend to have an earlier pubertal onset than girls with normal weight. However, only a few studies have reported the progression of puberty in these girls. This study aimed to identify risk factors for rapid pubertal progression in OW/obese girls presenting with precocious breast development. Methods: This retrospective cohort study reviewed the medical records of 110 OW (body mass index [BMI] ≥85th percentile for age and sex) and 213 nonoverweight (NW, BMI <85th percentile for age and sex) girls who presented with breast budding before 8 years of age. OW girls were divided into 2 subgroups: girls with central puberty progression before 9 years of age (OW-RP) and those without (OW-SP). Results: Progression to central puberty before the age of 9 was more common in NW girls than in OW girls (83.8 % vs. 65.2 % in NW vs. OW group, p<0.001), and progression-free survival for 1, 2, and 3 years was higher in the OW group (p<0.001). In a subgroup analysis of OW girls, the OW-RP subgroup had more advanced bone age (BA) at the first visit (p=0.047) and higher initial luteinizing hormone (LH, p=0.010) levels than the OW-SP subgroup. Being NW (p=0.001) and having more advanced BA (p=0.023) at the initial workup were the risk factors for pubertal progression before age 9. Conclusion Pubertal progression seems to be slower in OW girls than in NW girls presenting with precocious breast development. However, it can progress rapidly in OW girls with particularly pronounced BA advancement and high LH levels at the initial workup.

OBJECTIVE: Sperm must be properly prepared in in vitro fertilization (IVF)-embryo transfer (ET) programs in order to control the fertilization rate and ensure that embryos are of high quality and have appropriate developmental abilities. The objective of this study was to determine the most optimal sperm preparation method for IVF. METHODS: Patients less than 40 years of age who participated in a fresh IVF-ET cycle from November 2012 to March 2013 were included in this study. Poor responders with less than three mature oocytes were excluded. Ham's F-10 medium or sperm-washing medium (SWM) was used in combination with the density-gradient centrifugation/swim-up (DGC-SUP) or SUP methods for sperm preparation. A total of 429 fresh IVF-ET cycles were grouped according to the media and methods used for sperm preparation and retrospectively analyzed (DGC-SUP/Ham's F-10, n=82; DGC-SUP/SWM, n=43; SUP/Ham's F-10, n=181; SUP/SWM, n=123). RESULTS: There were no significant differences among these four groups with respect to the mean age of the female partners, duration of infertility, number of previous IVF cycles, and retrieved oocytes. We determined that both the DGC-SUP and SUP methods for sperm preparation from whole semen, using either Ham's F-10 or SWM media, result in comparable clinical outcomes, including fertilization and pregnancy rates. CONCLUSION: We suggest that both media and both methods for sperm preparation can be used for selecting high-quality sperm for assistive reproductive technology programs.
Centrifugation, Density Gradient ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro ; Humans ; Infertility ; Oocytes ; Pregnancy Rate ; Reproductive Techniques ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; Retrospective Studies ; Semen ; Spermatozoa

PURPOSE: This study compares differences in stress, depression and suicidal ideation between nursing and students of other academic disciplines. METHODS: Nursing students (n=105) and students of other majors (n=148) were surveyed on the degree of personal stress, depression and suicidal ideation. Participants were recruited from three universities in cities S and C in Korea. Data were collected from May 1 to 20, 2013. Measurement tools were the Revised Life Stress Scale for College Students, Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale(CES-D), and Scale for Suicide Ideation(SSI). PASW Statistics 18 was used for descriptive analysis, homogeneity test(chi-square distribution) and ANCOVA. RESULTS: The level of stress among nursing students was lower than that of students in other majors. Among the subcategories of stress, however, stress among nursing students arising from the student-faculty relationship was higher than that of their non-nursing counterparts. Conversely, differences in the prevalence of depression were notsignificant between nursing students and non-nursing students. Ultimately, it was revealed that there exists a strong correlation among stress, depression and suicidal idea for nursing students. CONCLUSION: Developing stress and depression management programs for nursing students is highly recommended.
Cities ; Depression* ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Prevalence ; Stress, Psychological ; Students, Nursing* ; Suicidal Ideation* ; Suicide

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the relationship among self-management, economic stability, self-esteem, self-achievement and predictor of the self-achievements in elders. METHODS: A total of 294 subjects aged between 60 and 92 were selected through convenient sampling. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaire from May to June, 2008. Collected data were analysed by the SPSS/WIN 15.0 program. RESULTS: Self-management, economic stability, self-esteem, self-achievement were positively correlated. The most significant predictor of self-achievement in elders were self-management and self-esteem. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that self-achievement is influenced by self-management and self-esteem and needed for aged well.
Self Care ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVE: Recently, microdissection of tissue sections has been used increasingly for the isolation of morphologically identified homogeneous cell populations, thus overcoming the obstacle of tissue complexity for the analysis cell-specific expression of macromolecules. The aim of the present study was to establish the minimal conditions required for the RNA extraction and amplification from the cells captured by the laser captured microdissection. METHODS: Mouse ovaries were fixed and cut into serial sections (7 micrometer thickness). Oocytes were captured by laser captured microdissection (LCM) method by using PixCell IITM system. The frozen sections were fixed in 70% ethanol and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, while the paraffin sections were stained with Multiple stain. Sections were dehydrated in graded alcohols followed by xylene and air-dried for 20 min prior to LCM. All reactions were performed in ribonuclease free solutions to prevent RNA degradation. After LCM, total RNA extraction from the captured oocytes was performed using the guanidinium isothiocyanate (GITC) solution, and subsequently evaluated by reverse transcriptase -polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPDH). RESULTS: With the frozen sections, detection of the GAPDH mRNA expression in the number of captured 25 oocytes were not repeatable, but the expression was always detectable from 50 oocytes. With 25 oocytes, at least 27 PCR cycles were required, whereas with 50 oocytes, 21 cycles were enough to detect GAPDH expression. Amount of the primary cDNA required for RT-PCR was reduced down to at least 0.25 microl with 50 oocytes, thus the resting 19.75 microl cDNA can be used for the testing other interested gene expression. Tissue-to-slide, tissue-to-tissue forces were very high in the paraffin sections, thus the greater number of cell procurement was required than the frozen sections. CONCLUSION: We have described a method for analyzing gene expression at the RNA level with the homogeneously microdissected cells from the small amount of tissues with complexity. We found that LCM coupled with RT-PCR could detect housekeeping gene expression in 50 oocytes captured. This technique can be easily applied for the study of gene expression with the small amount of tissues.
Alcohols ; Animals ; DNA, Complementary ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Ethanol ; Female ; Frozen Sections ; Gene Expression* ; Genes, Essential ; Guanidine ; Hematoxylin ; Mice ; Microdissection* ; Oocytes* ; Ovary ; Paraffin ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Ribonucleases ; RNA Stability ; RNA* ; RNA, Messenger ; RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase ; Xylenes