The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among percieved social support, hope and quality of life of the cancer patients and to gain the baseline data for development of nursing intervention program for promoting quality of life in cancer patients. The design of this study was a cross sectional correlational survey. The subjects were 20 out and in-cancer patients in 5 general hospitals in Pusan The data were collected from July 2 to August 1. 2001. The instruments were the Percieved social support scale(16 items, 5 point scale) had developed by Tae(1986), Hope scale(12 items, 4point scale) developed by Nowotny(1989) and Quality of life scale(31 items, 10 point scale) developed by Tae et al.(2000). The data was analyzed by the SPSS/PC+ program using frequency & percentage, item mean & standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA & Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results of this study was as follows: 1) The item mean score of quality of life was 6.05+/-1.16 (range 0-10). The heighest score of subarea of the quality of life was the spiritual wellbeing area (7.09+/-1.63) and the lowest score was social wellbeing area(5.53+/-1.65), The mean score of perceived social support was 52.65+/-10.32 (the lowest 1, the highest 80). The mean score of family support was32.71+/-6.66 (range 1- 40) and the mean score of medical team support was 19.93+/-5.95 (range 1- 40), The mean score of Hope was 37.02+/-5.64 (range 1- 48). 2) There were statistically significant difference in the score of quality of life according to the life effect of religion(F=3.97, p=0.00), treatment method(F=2.94, p=0.01), area of diagnosis (F=3.48, p=0.01), stage of disease (F=13.74, p= 0.00). 3) There was significant correlation between perceived social support(r=0.44, p=0.000 ; family support: r=0.334, p=0.000, medical support; r=0.395, p=0.000), hope(r=0.563, p= 0.000) and quality of life. In conclusion, there was a significant relationship among perceived social support, hope and quality of life. Therefore perceived social support, hope intervention programs should be developed to improve the quality of life in cancer patients.
Busan ; Diagnosis ; Hope* ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Nursing ; Quality of Life*

This study was undertaken to develop an instrument to be used for measuring the concept of quality of life of Korean patients with cancer multidimensionary and correctly. It can contribute in holistic nursing care for Korean cancer patients and also provide and validate basic data to help oncology nurses measure the outcome of nursing intervention correctly. To develop this instrument, the researchers first estabilished a conceptual framework based on the results of qualitative data analysis and indepth interview method Development of the scale was conducted using a method in which 31 items were assessed by subjects' self report using linear analogue scales. The subjects were 79 D.M. patients, 103 patients with acute illness, and 91 cancer patients residing in Busan, Korea. Data were collected during the period from July, 24 to August 14, 2000. This instrument consisted of 31 items with a self report scale. This instrument covered 4 dimensions of cancer patients : 1) physical wellbeing 2) psychological wellbeing 3) social wellbeing and 4)spiritual wellbeing. Each item had a possible score of 10. The reliability of the scale was tested with Cronbach's alpha. Validity was evaluated by examining the relationships of this scale, Youn's Quality of Life Questionnare scores and the Simple Quality of Life scale. Two separate runs of multiple regression were used to predict scores on the Simple Quality of Life measurement. Further validation was obtained by examining the correlation between the instrument subscores and Youn's Quality of Life measurement subscore for convergence of this scale. Examination of the discriminant. power of the instrument was done using ANOVA test. The results are summarized as follows: 1. The reliability of the instrument for the quality of life was 0.8321(Cronbach's alpha.), physical wellbeing dimension 0.6343, psychological wellbeing dimension 0.6501, spiritual wellbeing dimension 0.5883. 2. This instrument had a high correlation with Youn's Quality of Life measurement(r= 0.636) in cancer patients, whereas it had a low correlation with Simple Quality of Life measurement(r=0.455) in cancer patients. In the D.M. patients, the instrument correlated with both the Youn's Quality of Life measurement and Simple Quality of life measurement(r=0.313, r= 0.407) and in the acute stage patients, the instrument had no correlation. 3.Multiple regression of individual items on the Simple Quality of Life scores accounted for 56.8% of the variance in the Simple Quality of Life measurement, whereas, Youn's Quality of Life measurement scores accounts for 31.7%. 4. The correlations collected from the three group had the same patterns of variations but especially the instrument developed in this study had higher disciminant power than that of Youn's Quality of Life Measurement.
Busan ; Holistic Nursing ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Quality of Life* ; Self Report ; Statistics as Topic ; Weights and Measures

Background: Chronic kidney disease is associated with chronic inflammation and progressive loss of peripheral muscle strength and the ability to exercise, and these changes are highly pronounced in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD). We evaluated hand grip strength (HGS) and leg muscle strength (LMS) in patients receiving HD and attempted to identify factors associated with muscle strength. Methods: We screened HGS (opposite the fistula side) and LMS (both sides) in HD patients at a single center (n = 112) by using digital hand and leg dynamometers (T.K.K. 5401 and 5710e/5715, Takei Scientific Instruments Co. Ltd., Niigata, Japan). Results: The mean age of patients was 62.6 years, and 73.2% of the patients were male.Diabetes was the cause of kidney failure in 50% of the patients, and the median HD vintage was 34 months. A total of 77.7% of patients reported that they participated in regular home-based exercise, and 29.5% of patients regularly participated in hospital-based resistance exercise.HGS and LMS showed good correlation (r = 0.715, P < 0.001). HGS (25.1 vs. 17.0 kg) and LMS (30.1 vs. 20.4 kg) were greater in males (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively) than in females.Older patients (≥ 60 years) showed less LMS than younger patients in both males and females (P = 0.012 and P = 0.037, respectively), but HGS did not differ according to age. Patients performing regular home- or hospital-based exercise showed higher HGS than those who did not exercise (24.2 vs. 18.6 kg, P = 0.011), but LMS was not significantly different (29.3 vs. 23.6 kg, P = 0.185). Multiple linear regression analysis proved that male sex, younger age, and any type of exercise were factors associated with improved HGS and LMS. Groups of older age (≥ 60 years), male sex, and shorter duration of HD (< median) benefitted more from exercise. Conclusion Sex, age, and exercise were the most important determinants of muscle strength in HD patients. We need to encourage patients to engage in regular home or group exercise from the beginning of dialysis and introduce new feasible forms of exercise for HD patients.

Background: Chronic kidney disease is associated with chronic inflammation and progressive loss of peripheral muscle strength and the ability to exercise, and these changes are highly pronounced in patients receiving hemodialysis (HD). We evaluated hand grip strength (HGS) and leg muscle strength (LMS) in patients receiving HD and attempted to identify factors associated with muscle strength. Methods: We screened HGS (opposite the fistula side) and LMS (both sides) in HD patients at a single center (n = 112) by using digital hand and leg dynamometers (T.K.K. 5401 and 5710e/5715, Takei Scientific Instruments Co. Ltd., Niigata, Japan). Results: The mean age of patients was 62.6 years, and 73.2% of the patients were male.Diabetes was the cause of kidney failure in 50% of the patients, and the median HD vintage was 34 months. A total of 77.7% of patients reported that they participated in regular home-based exercise, and 29.5% of patients regularly participated in hospital-based resistance exercise.HGS and LMS showed good correlation (r = 0.715, P < 0.001). HGS (25.1 vs. 17.0 kg) and LMS (30.1 vs. 20.4 kg) were greater in males (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively) than in females.Older patients (≥ 60 years) showed less LMS than younger patients in both males and females (P = 0.012 and P = 0.037, respectively), but HGS did not differ according to age. Patients performing regular home- or hospital-based exercise showed higher HGS than those who did not exercise (24.2 vs. 18.6 kg, P = 0.011), but LMS was not significantly different (29.3 vs. 23.6 kg, P = 0.185). Multiple linear regression analysis proved that male sex, younger age, and any type of exercise were factors associated with improved HGS and LMS. Groups of older age (≥ 60 years), male sex, and shorter duration of HD (< median) benefitted more from exercise. Conclusion Sex, age, and exercise were the most important determinants of muscle strength in HD patients. We need to encourage patients to engage in regular home or group exercise from the beginning of dialysis and introduce new feasible forms of exercise for HD patients.

Preceding infection or inflammation such as bacterial meningitis has been associated with poor outcomes after stroke. Previously, we reported that intracorpus callosum microinjection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) strongly accelerated the ischemia/reperfusion-evoked brain tissue damage via recruiting inflammatory cells into the ischemic lesion. Simvastatin, 3-hydroxy-3-methylgultaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibitor, has been shown to reduce inflammatory responses in vascular diseases. Thus, we investigated whether simvastatin could reduce the LPS-accelerated ischemic injury. Simvastatin (20 mg/kg) was orally administered to rats prior to cerebral ischemic insults (4 times at 72, 48, 25, and 1-h pre-ischemia). LPS was microinjected into rat corpus callosum 1 day before the ischemic injury. Treatment of simvastatin reduced the LPS-accelerated infarct size by 73%, and decreased the ischemia/reperfusion-induced expressions of pro-inflammatory mediators such as iNOS, COX-2 and IL-1beta in LPS-injected rat brains. However, simvastatin did not reduce the infiltration of microglial/macrophageal cells into the LPS-pretreated brain lesion. In vitro migration assay also showed that simvastatin did not inhibit the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1-evoked migration of microglial/macrophageal cells. Instead, simvastatin inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB, a key signaling event in expressions of various proinflammatory mediators, by decreasing the degradation of IkappaB. The present results indicate that simvastatin may be beneficial particularly to the accelerated cerebral ischemic injury under inflammatory or infectious conditions.
Animals ; Brain ; Corpus Callosum ; Inflammation ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Macrophages ; Meningitis, Bacterial ; Microglia ; Microinjections ; Monocytes ; NF-kappa B ; Oxidoreductases ; Rats ; Simvastatin* ; Stroke ; Vascular Diseases

An ectopic parathyroid gland is a major cause of persistent and recurrent hyperparathyroidism. Surgical success depends on accurate preoperative localization of the parathyroid adenoma. We herein report the case of a 52-year-old male patient who suffered from primary hyperparathyroidism for several years. He initially presented with urinary frequency, hypercalcemia, and a ureter stone. Ultrasonography and a 99mTc-sestamibi scan were performed, but failed to localize the parathyroid lesion. Four years later, the patient revisited our hospital, complaining of general weakness, headache, dyspepsia, and recurrent urinary symptoms secondary to persistent primary hyperparathyroidism. In addition, renal function was decreased and severe osteoporosis was found. We performed a 99mTc-sestamibi scan with single photon emission computed tomography (99mTc-MIBI SPECT) and contrast-enhanced neck CT, and detected an ectopic parathyroid adenoma in the upper anterior mediastinum. In conclusion, the combination of both 99mTc-MIBI SPECT and neck CT could permit better preoperative parathyroid localization, especially for mediastinal adenomas.
Adenoma ; Dyspepsia ; Headache ; Humans ; Hypercalcemia ; Hyperparathyroidism ; Hyperparathyroidism, Primary ; Male ; Mediastinum ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Osteoporosis ; Parathyroid Glands ; Parathyroid Neoplasms ; Technetium Tc 99m Sestamibi ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Ureter