PURPOSE: This study was to understand and explain the adjustment of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Variables in this model were social support, uncertainty, resilience and coping. METHODS: The data were collected for approximately five months from May through to September 2006 with cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or cancer patients finished chemotherapy using self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics program, Amos 5.0, was employed to verify the goodness of the hypothetic model and the hypotheses formulated in the study. RESULTS: The fitness of the finalized model turned out to be improved (chi2=332.644, df=70, GFI=.809, AGFI=.714, RMSEA=.138, AIC=402.644). Those variables made a 60.8% prediction of the patients adjustment. CONCLUSION: The hypothetic model presented in the study could serve to explain the adjustment of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Moreover, the use of the conceptual framework of the theory of planned nursing intervention would be very worthwhile as a strategy to boost the adjustment of cancer patients when receiving chemotherapy.
Humans ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Uncertainty

No abstract available.
Alcoholism* ; Primary Health Care*

Chronic illness requiring attention and management during a long period of time puts great burden onto patients, their family and society. For patients with chronic illnesses, providing social support is the most important, and the fundamental support comes from their spouses. Amount and quality of support from spouses seems to differentiated according to the sex of patients. Female patients tend to believe that their spouses are not very supportive. Therefore, the researchers assessed the burden of husbands of female arthritis patients to discover the factors that result in greater burden. Also, they developed a theoretical model of husbands' care for their wives through a qualitative research into husbands' experience. Method 1: The study material was 650 female arthritis patients registered in an arthritis clinic. The questionnaire about the disease experience of female arthritis patients and the burden of husbands were sent. Returned questionnaires numbered 210(32.3%) and 27 were excluded because of inadequate answers. The remaining 183 questionnaires were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 51 years and the mean age of spouses was 55 years. The mean marital period was 28 years. The average duration since diagnosis was 9.1 years. Education level was varied from primary school to graduate school, and average income/month was 1,517,300 won. Method 2: Initial questionnaire studies on the burden of husbands were performed. Among 183 responding husbands, 23 consented to participate for a qualitative research. Data was obtained by direct and telephone interviews. The mean age of participants was 58 years, and the educational level and socioeconomic status also varied. Result: 1. Husbands' burden: The average burden was 57.68 with a range of 6-96. 2. Burden and general characteristics: The husband's burden correlated with the age of the patients, numbers in the family, therapy methods, patient's level of discomfort, patient's disease severity, patient's level of dependence and the husband's understanding of the level of severity. 3. Linear correlation analysis on burden: The husbands' burden is explained in 22.5% by husband's recognition of level of severity and husbands' age. 4. There were four patterns of the burden on husbands: both objectve burden and subjective burden were high(pattern I), both of objectve burden and subjective burden were low(pattern II), objective burden was high but subjective burden was low(pattern III), objective burden was low but subjective burden was high(pattern IV). The pattern was correlated with the family income, educational level of the patients and their husbands, therapy methods, patient's level of discomfort, patient's disease severity, patient's level of dependence and husband's understanding of level of severity. 5. The core category of the caring experience of the husbands with arthritis patients was "companionship". The causal factor was the patients' experience due to symptoms : physical disfigurement, pain, immobility, limitation of house chores, and limitation of social activities. Contextural factors are husbands' identification of housework and husbands' concern about the disease. The mediating factors are economic problems, fear of aging, feeling of limitation and family support. The strategy for interaction is mind control and how to solve emotional stress. The "companionship" resulted from caring activities, participation of household activities, helping patients' to coping with emotional experience. 6. Companionship is established through the process of entering intervention, and caring state of mind. Entering intervention is the phase of participation of therapy and involvement of houseworks. The caring phase consists of decision on therapy, providing therapy, providing direct care, and taking over the household role of wife. Through caring phase, the changing phase set a stage in which husbands consolidate the relationship with their wives, and are reminded of the meaning of marriage. As a result, in changing phase, husbands' companionship is enhanced. In conclusion, nursing care of chronic illnesses should include a family member especially the spouse. All information on disease shoud be provided to patients and whole family member. Strong support should also be provided to overcome difficulties in taking over role of other sex. Then the quality of life of patients and families will be much improved.
Aging ; Arthritis ; Chronic Disease* ; Diagnosis ; Education ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Housekeeping ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Marriage ; Models, Theoretical ; Negotiating ; Nursing Care ; Qualitative Research ; Quality of Life ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Social Class ; Spouses* ; Stress, Psychological

No abstract available.
Blepharoptosis*

T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma is characterized by immature lymphoid cells that are indistinguishable from the lymphoblasts and prolymphocytes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Several characteristic clinical features of lymphoblastic lymphoma, with include a high male-to-female ratio, a relatively high incidence in older children and young adults, the frequent presence of mediastinal involvement at the time of diagnosis. Also, this disease is rapidly progressive, and early dissemination to the bone marrow, blood, and central nervous system leads to the evolution of a picture resembling a acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We have experienced a rare case of congenital T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in which 1/365 year old female newborn had generalized multiple irregular protruding mass on her body. On bone marrow biopsy, CSF analysis, ultrasonogram and whole body MRI studies. We found metastasized tumor mass to, orbit, abdominal cavity, bulva, skin, and lower extremities. Histopathologically, specimen from mass on the right thigh showed diffuse infiltration of poorly differentiated and immature lymphoid cells in the skelectal muscle and subcutaneous soft tissue. By immunophenotyping studies using anti T cell and B cell monoclonal antibody, these cells were reactive with UCHL-1, MB2, but unreactive with MB1, L26. Based on these findings, the lesion was diagnosed as lymphoblastic lymphoma of the T-cell type, which occurred congenitally. Most T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma are noted, but congenital case was not reported. So we report it with a brief review of literature.
Abdominal Cavity ; Biopsy ; Bone Marrow ; Central Nervous System ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Lower Extremity ; Lymphocytes ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Orbit ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma* ; Skin ; T-Lymphocytes ; Thigh ; Ultrasonography ; Young Adult

We measured fasting Serum Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (SACE) in 100 healthy controls and 75 coal worker's pneumoconiosis (CWP) patients by a commercial kits (ACEcolor®, Fujirio Inc., Japan) and evaluated this manual method. The linear range extends to an activity of 80U/L. Precision on a commercial control serum (ACE control-N®, Sigma Co.) with a mean value of 9.47U/L yielded a within-run and between-run CVs are 5.6% (N=15) and 6.9% (N=14) respectively. Save in 75 CWP was 20.3±5.7U/L (mean±s.d.); higher than in healthy controls (13.4±3.9U/L, P<0.01). No correlation was found between SACE, sex, and age. The results suggest that the measurement for SACE and follow-up SACE in coal workers may be a useful diagnostic tools for CWP.
Anthracosis* ; Coal* ; Fasting ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Methods

Experiments were conducted to define the optimal constituents of culture medium and atmospheric condition for growth of Campylobacter pylori. Two clinical isolates were streaked onto various media, incubated in two different atmospheric conditions (microaerophilic condition and carbon dioxide incubator), and growth was assessed semiquantitatively according to relative colony size and extent of growth through the streak. The growth obtained on Campy media, composed of GC agar base plus 1% hemoglobin, 0.2% activated charcoal, 1% IsoVitaleX, vancomycin 6mg /L nalidixic acid 20mg/L and amphotercin 2 mg/L, was used as reference. Our conclusions were as follows: Tryptic soy agar base was not acceptable for the growth of C. pylori. The organism grew in both atmospheric conditions, but generally showed a scantier growth in the carbon dioxide incubator than under the microaerophilic condition, however GC agar containing 1% hemoglobin and 0.2% activated charcoal supported well the growth of C. pylori in the carbon dioxide incubator. The authors have found that the GC agar base supplemented with 1% hemoglobin and 0.2% charcoal was the most satisfactory medium and a microaerophilic condition was optimal atmospheric condition for the growth of Campylobacter pylori in this study.
Agar ; Biopsy* ; Campylobacter* ; Carbon Dioxide ; Charcoal ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Incubators ; Nalidixic Acid ; Vancomycin

PURPOSE: To compare image quality of storage phosphor digital radiography(DR) with film-screen radiography in portable chest imaging, and to assess the minimum X-ray dose that can be applied to DR in adults without image degradation, and also to compare image qualities of low dose and standard dose DR. Materials and Methalos: A geometrical phantom similar to the human thorax was imaged by a portable radiographic unit with fixed kVp and variable m^s in both film-screen and DR systems. Three radiologists scored the images by four grades in four categories of 1) contrast between mediastinum and lung, 2) definition of the nodule in the lung, 3) definition of another nodule through the mediastinal shadow, and 4) grainess(noise : assessed only in DR). Additionally, portable chest images were obtained in 10 patients in a intensive care unit by film-screen, standard dose and half dose DR in consecutive days. The same readers scored the images by four grades in six categories of 1) the lungs and hila, 2) the mediastinum, 3) subphrenic area. 4) musculoskeletal shadow, 5) tubes and lines, and 6) grainess (only in DR). The images with superior quality were assessed by paired t-test. RESULTS: In phantom study, the minimum dose of digital images scored 3 or more by all readers was 39% of the standard dose. In patient study, DR was superior to film-screen radiography in all categories except tube and line. Low dose DR was not inferior to standard dose DR in five categories other than grainess to two readers or more. CONCLUSION: In portable chest imaging, storage phosphor DR image was superior to conventional film-screen radiography and half dose DR was comparable to standard dose DR despite of more noise.
Adult ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Lung ; Mediastinum ; Noise ; Radiographic Image Enhancement* ; Radiography ; Thorax*

PURPOSE: To compare image quality of storage phosphor digital radiography(DR) with film-screen radiography in portable chest imaging, and to assess the minimum X-ray dose that can be applied to DR in adults without image degradation, and also to compare image qualities of low dose and standard dose DR. Materials and Methalos: A geometrical phantom similar to the human thorax was imaged by a portable radiographic unit with fixed kVp and variable m^s in both film-screen and DR systems. Three radiologists scored the images by four grades in four categories of 1) contrast between mediastinum and lung, 2) definition of the nodule in the lung, 3) definition of another nodule through the mediastinal shadow, and 4) grainess(noise : assessed only in DR). Additionally, portable chest images were obtained in 10 patients in a intensive care unit by film-screen, standard dose and half dose DR in consecutive days. The same readers scored the images by four grades in six categories of 1) the lungs and hila, 2) the mediastinum, 3) subphrenic area. 4) musculoskeletal shadow, 5) tubes and lines, and 6) grainess (only in DR). The images with superior quality were assessed by paired t-test. RESULTS: In phantom study, the minimum dose of digital images scored 3 or more by all readers was 39% of the standard dose. In patient study, DR was superior to film-screen radiography in all categories except tube and line. Low dose DR was not inferior to standard dose DR in five categories other than grainess to two readers or more. CONCLUSION: In portable chest imaging, storage phosphor DR image was superior to conventional film-screen radiography and half dose DR was comparable to standard dose DR despite of more noise.
Adult ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Lung ; Mediastinum ; Noise ; Radiographic Image Enhancement* ; Radiography ; Thorax*

No abstract available.
Cholesterol* ; Triglycerides*