No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones*

No abstract available.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones*

PURPOSE: Spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy (HP) is a rare .condition, however, the rising incidence after in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) may present serious problems as the diagnosis of this potentially fatal condition is often missed. The purposes of this study were to investigate the frequency of HP after IVF-ET, to analyze the clinical presentation and the outcome of coincidental intrauterine pregnancy, and to evaluate the value of routine transvaginal ultrasonography in early diagnosis and treatment of HP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: There were 11 cases of HP among 484 pregnancies after IVF-ET (The incidence was 2. 3%) in recent 2 years. We evaluated the clinical findings and the findings of transvaginal sonography in those 11 patients. RESULTS: The combined extrauterine pregnancies were tubal (n=9), cornual (n=l), and both the tubal and cornual (n=l). Vaginal bleeding was absent in 4 cases and one of them was asymptomatic. HP may be suspected if there was an elevated serum hCG in the absence of intrauterine multiple gestations. In all cases, the condition was diagnosed by transvaginal sonography performed prior to surgical intervention. The coincidental intr'auterine pregnancies were ended in successful full-term delivery in 7 cases, while one pregnancy was ongoing at that time. CONCLUSION: The incidence of HP was evidently higher in IVF-ET than in spontaneous pregnancies. Transvaginal sonography was useful in accurate diagnosis in clinically suspected cases and even in asymptomatic cases. Routine transvaginal sonography played an important role in early diagnosis and prompt management of HP.
Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Embryo Transfer ; Embryonic Structures* ; Fertilization ; Fertilization in Vitro* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy, Heterotopic* ; Ultrasonography* ; Uterine Hemorrhage

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to review articles related to the psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). METHODS: Systematic literature searches of computerized databases were performed to identify articles on psychometric evaluation of the PSS. RESULTS: The search finally identified 19 articles. Internal consistency reliability, factorial validity, and hypothesis validity of the PSS were well reported. However, the test-retest reliability and criterion validity were relatively rarely evaluated. In general, the psychometric properties of the 10-item PSS were found to be superior to those of the 14-item PSS, while those of the 4-item scale fared the worst. The psychometric properties of the PSS have been evaluated empirically mostly using populations of college students or workers. CONCLUSION: Overall, the PSS is an easy-to-use questionnaire with established acceptable psychometric properties. However, future studies should evaluate these psychometric properties in greater depth, and validate the scale using diverse populations.
Humans ; Psychometrics ; Surveys and Questionnaires

No Abstract Available.
Cytokines* ; Receptors, Cell Surface*

No abstract available.

With aging, several progressive changes occur on the midface including descent of attenuated lower eyelid skin which creates a skeleton-like appearance with infraorbital hollowness, and descent of the malar fat pad with exaggeration of the nasolabial fold. Most of the procedures for midfacial rejuvenation require extensive peripheral-to-central dissection in the subcutaneous, sub-SMAS or subperiosteal plane. The author's procedure entails direct access to the midface through a subciliary incision, elevation of the orbicularis oculi muscle and ptotic malar soft tissue. It has been performed through subcutaneous dissection on 67 patient and subperiosteal dissection on 4 patients. Subcutaneous dissection on the midface was made laterally to the zygomaticus maior, medially to the levator labii superioris under the oricularis muscle and inferiorly beyond the nasolabial fold. The range of subperiosteal dissection was similar to subcutaneous dissection, except on the dissection plane. Suspension sutures made at the malar retaining ligament and infero-lateral portion of the orbicularis oculi were fixed to periosteum of the lateral canthal area. In some patients, this procedure was combined with forehead lift(4), temporal lift(2), upper blepharoplasty(28), cervicoplasty(2), and lateral canthoplasty(12). In 23 patients who had a particularly prominent tear trough, a fat sliding technique was combined. The author has followed up 62 patients from a minimum 2 months to a maximum 27 months. Complications included urdercorrection(3), longstanding malar fullness(2), ectropion(1), transient numbness(2), and cheek dimpling(1). In conclusion, this centrofacial can be applied to patients who have limited ptosis of the midface with mild nasolabial fold.
Adipose Tissue ; Aging ; Cheek ; Eyelids ; Forehead ; Humans ; Ligaments ; Nasolabial Fold ; Periosteum ; Rejuvenation ; Skin ; Sutures

The effects of brisk walking & muscle strengthening exercise on pain, fatigue, physical function & disease activity were examined in 28 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Research design was a quasi-experimental study of nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. 14 for the experimental group and 14 for the control group were selected from the outpatients on rheumatoid arthritis clinic of Dong-A University Hospital. The experimental group underwent 16 weeks of brisk walking and muscle strengthening exercise using Thera-Band. Pain, fatigue. physical function & disease activity was measured before and after 16 weeks of exercise. At baseline test, Fatigue & physical function score between groups were significantly different. So differences within experimental group (baseline versus follow up)were compared with differences within the control group by Mann-Whitney test. There were significant differences between groups in the difference score on pain (U=6.50 p .001) and fatigue (U=26.5 p .0l). For the experimental group. the score on the pain & fatigue was significantly decreased but no changed for the control group. Also there was a significant differences between groups in the difference score of the physical function (u=22.5 p .001). For the experimental group, the score of the physical function has been significantly increased. However, for the control group, it has been no changed. But there were no significant differences between groups in the ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and the CRP (C-reactive protein) level. In summary, brisk walking & muscle strengthening exercise led to significant improvements in pain, fatigue. and physical function without exacerbating disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Fatigue* ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Research Design ; Walking*

This study was carried out to identify the important risk factors for reduced bone mass of postmenopausal RA patients and to develop discriminant function which can classify postmenopausal RA patients with either reduced or normal bone mass. Through the literature review, individual characteristics such as age, body weight, height. age of menarche, duration of menopause, gravity, parity, and breast feeding period and factors of life style such as milk consumption exercise habit. alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, coffee consumption, disease activity, corticosteroid therapy were identified as influencing factors of reduced bone mass in RA patients Sixty eight postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis aged between 42 and 76 were selected among those who checked bone mineral density in lumbar spine and femur from October. 1998 to April. 1999 at Dong-a university hospital in Pusan. Assessment of disease activity, duration of disease and corticosteroid therapy were made by the same rheumatologist and included Ritchie articular index, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive measuring bone protein on mineral density. Cumulative steroid dosage was calculated from the daily dosage multiplied by the number of days received. The information of other risk factor including health assessment score, individual characteristics and life style factors were collected by questionnaire. Bone mineral density(BMD) was measured using DXA at lumbar spine and femoral Ward's triangle. Discriminant function (regression equation) was developed for estimating the likelihood of the presence or absence of reduced bone mass. The results are as follows: Among the subjects, thirteen(l9.1%) exhibited osteoporosis in lumbar spine and twenty four(35.3%) exhibited osteoporosis in femoral Ward's triangle. For lumbar spine, the variables significant were age, body weight, health assessment score, while for femoral Ward's triangle, age, body weight, duration of disease. But disease activity and corticosteroid therapy were not signigicant to distinguish reduced bone mass from normal bone mass. When the discriminant function was evaluated by comparing the observed outcome with predicted outcome, the discriminant function correctly classified 85.4% of patients with reduce bone mass and 63.0% of patients with normal bone mass in the lumbar spine and 100% of patients with reduced bone mass and 9.1% of patients with normal bone mass in the femoral Ward's triangle. In summary, we found that osteoporosis in postmenopausal women with RA is more evident at the femur than the lumbar spine. Also the important discriminant factors of reduced bone mass postmenopausal women with RA were age, body weight, duration of disease and health disability. In nursing situation, the efforts to improve of functional capacity of postmenopausal women with rheumatoid arthritis should be considered to prevent osteoporosis and fractures. Also we recommend those postmenopausal women with RA who are classified as a group of the reduced bone mass in the discriminant function should examine the bone mineral density to further examine the usefulness of this discriminant function.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Body Weight ; Bone Density ; Breast Feeding ; Busan ; Coffee ; Erythrocyte Indices ; Female ; Femur ; Gravitation ; Humans ; Life Style ; Menarche ; Menopause ; Milk ; Nursing ; Osteoporosis ; Parity ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Risk Factors ; Smoking ; Spine