PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relations among emotional intelligence, interpersonal relationship, and job satisfaction among clinical nurses. METHODS: Data were collected from 315 nurses who had worked for more than 6 months at five general hospitals by a self-reported questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe-test, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchial regression using SPSS 18.0 program. RESULTS: The mean score of emotional intelligence was 3.42 and the score of self emotional appraisal was the highest. The mean score of interpersonal relationship was 3.44 and the score of intimacy was the highest. The mean score of job satisfaction was 3.04. Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationship were positively correlated with the job satisfaction. Hierarchial multiple regression analysis showed that use of emotion was the main factor of affecting job satisfaction, which explained 30.8% of the variance for the nurses' job satisfaction together with intimacy, regulation of emotion, position, and monthly salary. CONCLUSION: These findings indicated that emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationship, especially use and control of emotion and intimacy contributed to nurses' job satisfaction. It is necessary to develop and implement the program for increasing emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationship for improving job satisfaction.
Emotional Intelligence* ; Hospitals, General ; Job Satisfaction* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Salaries and Fringe Benefits

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of LH receptor in folliculogenesis, we confirm the expression level of LH receptor (LH-R) mRNA in human granulosa cells (GCs) and its expression levels were analyzed by comparison to embryo developmental rate and pregnancy rate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: GCs were obtained at the time of oocyte retrieval from the patients undergoing IVF-ET program. The patients were divided into two groups: Group I (n=20) is poor responder (retrieved oocyte(s)< or =3ea), Group II (n=80) is normal responder (retrieved oocytes>3ea). After the extraction of total RNA, semiquantitative RT-PCR was performed and the expression level of LH-R mRNA was normalized by beta-actin. Statistical analysis was performed by using Chi(2) test, Student's t-test and Pearson correlation. RESULTS: In Group II, the relative values of LH-R mRNA (0.680 vs. 0.463, p<0.005) and pregnancy rate (54.7% vs. 23.1%, p<0.05) were significantly higher than in Group I. Number of retrieved oocyte(s) was gradually increased when the expression of LH-R mRNA was increased (p<0.05). But the quality of retrieved oocyte and transferred embryo were not related with the expression of LH-R mRNA. When the pregnancy rate was compared with FSH only group and FSH combined with hMG group in the ovarian stimulation protocol, FSH combined with hMG group was significantly higher than FSH only group in Group I (37.5% vs. 0%), and the expression of LH-R mRNA was significantly higher in hMG combined group than FSH only group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Expression level of LH-R mRNA has important role in ovarian function related with the response to gonadotrophin in human folliculogenesis. Furthermore these data might provide the evidence that additional use of hMG is helpful to poor responders.
Actins ; Embryonic Development ; Embryonic Structures ; Female ; Granulosa Cells ; Humans ; Oocyte Retrieval ; Oocytes ; Ovulation Induction ; Pregnancy Rate ; Pregnancy* ; Receptors, LH* ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger

BACKGROUND: It is said that tuberculous pleuritis responds well to anti-tuberculous drug in general, so no further aggressive therapeutic management is unnecesarry except in case of diagnostic thoracentesis. But in clinical practice, we often see some patients who need later decortication due to dyspnea caused by pleural loculation or thickening despite several months of anti-tuberculous drug therapy. Therefore, we want to know the clinical difference between a group who received decortication due to complication of tuberculous pleuritis despite of anti-tuberculous drug and a group who improved after 9 months of anti-tuberculous drug only. METHODS: We reviewed 20 tuberculous pleuritis patients(group 1) who underwent decortication due to dyspnea caused by pleural loculation or severe pleural thickening despite of anti-tuberculous drug therapy for 9 or more months, and 20 other tuberculous pleuritis patients(group 2) who improved by anti-tuberculous drug only and had similar degrees of initial pleural effusion and similar age,sex distribution. Then we compared between the two groups the duration of symptoms before anti-tuberculous drug treatment and pleural fluid biochemistry like glucose, LDH, protein and pleural fluid cell count and WBC differential count, and we also wanted to know whether there was any difference in preoperative PFT value and postoperative PFT value in the patients who underwent decortication, and obtained following results. RESULTS: 1) Group 1 patients had lower glucose level{63.3+/-30.8(mg/dl)} than that of the group 2{98.5+/-34.2(mg/dl), p<0.05}, and higher LDH level{776.3+/-266.0(IU/L)} than the group 2 patients{376.3 +/-123.1(IU/L), p<0.05), and also longer duration of symptom before treatment{2.0+/-1.7(month)} than the group 2{ 1.1 +/-1.2(month), p<0.05)}, respectively. 2) In group 1, FVC changed from preoperative 2.55+/-0.80(L) to postoperative 2.99+/-0.78(L)(p<0.05), and FEV1 changed from preoperative 2.19 +/- 0.70(L/sec) to postoperative 2.50+/-0.69(L/sec) (p<0.05). 3) There was no difference in pleural fluid protein level(5.05+/-1.01(gm/dL) and 5.15+/-0.77 (gm/dl), p>0.05) and WBC differential count between group 1 and group 2. CONCLUSION: It is probable that in tuberculous pleuritis there is a risk of complication in the case of showing relatively low pleural fluid glucose or high LDH level, or in the case of having long duraton of symptom before treatment. We thought prospective study should be performed to confirm this.
Biochemistry ; Cell Count ; Drug Therapy ; Dyspnea ; Glucose ; Humans ; Pleural Effusion* ; Pleurisy ; Prospective Studies ; Tuberculosis, Pleural*

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the accuracy of a portable hemoglobin photometer, the HemoCue, during surgery, hemoglobin concentrations (Hb) of HemoCue were compared with those of the SYSMEX XE-2100, in the situation of bleeding. METHODS: Hemoglobin concentrations were measured with HemoCue and by the SYSMEX XE-2100 at the same time, on 100 blood samples obtained from patients who were bleeding more than 500 ml, during surgery. The limits of agreement between the two methods were calculated from the results according to the method of Bland & Altman. The results of HemoCue were adjusted by adding the mean bias, defining the corrected values, and reevaluated the agreement with the results of the SYSMEX XE-2100. RESULTS: The differences in results between the two methods were 1.12 +/- 0.37 g/dl. The limits of agreement were 0.38-1.86 g/dl, which means disagreement between the two methods. However, the corrected values represented agreement with the values of the SYSMEX XE-2100. The limits of agreement were -0.74-0.74 g/dl. CONCLUSIONS: The corrected Hb values of HemoCue were comparable to the values of SYSMEX XE-2100. It is useful to evaluate the hemoglobin concentration using HemoCue intraoperatively.
Anemia ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Hemoglobins ; Hemorrhage ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the application rate and effectiveness of endoscopic operations based on 6,017 cases in the field of gynecology. METHODS: Six-thousand-seventeen cases of endoscopic operations were performed from March 1993 to June 2004 in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Center for Endoscopy, Good Moonhwa Hospital. Endoscopic operations were done on the majority of patients who had benign gynecologic diseases. We applied "two-surgeons system" and simplified methods of operation consisted of endoloop-ligation, endosuture and endotying. RESULTS: Our endoscopic operations were successful in 5,994 cases (99.62%) out of 6,017 attempts. Twenty-three cases (0.38%) were converted to laparotomy due to severe pelvic adhesion, excessive bleeding or difficulty in accessibility. In the first year endoscopic operations were done in 29.0% of the total gynecologic operations, but was increased to 52.9% during the next 4 years. In 2003, 93.0% and in 2004, 99.0% of the total gynecologic operations were done by endoscope. While the simple technique surgeries showed a high application rate, the more complicated technique surgeries, which began at a lower rate, showed a steady increase up to 89.3%. Blood loss and operation time were markedly declined during 3 year period and maintained at a low level thereafter. A 3 years' period of endoscopic operations (about 500 cases) is necessary for a hospital learning curve while, 26.4 cases is necessary an individual surgeon's learning curve. The major complications during the study period was 28 cases (0.47%). CONCLUSION: Endoscopic operations can be applied in almost all benign gynecologic diseases. In particular, "two-surgeons system" is a safe method with few complications and minimal learning period. These results suggest that if appropriate techniques could be learned, endoscopic operation might be preferred to laparotomy for both surgeons and patients.
Endoscopes ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Genital Diseases, Female* ; Gynecology ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Learning ; Learning Curve ; Obstetrics

PURPOSE: To access the usefulness of newly designed Leven tube inserted drip infusion spiral CT for theevaluation of remnant stomach and anastomosis site in patients who have undergone subtotal gastrectomy for stomachcancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A new technique named Levin tube inserted drip infusion spiral CT was used toprospectively study 23 patients. A 16Fr Levin tube was inserted into the remnant stomach ; 500ml of tap water wasdrip infused just before CT scanning and an additional 500ml of water was infused during IV contrast injection.Water was infused by gravity, using a water bottle suspended at a height of 90cm(Group A). The 31 patients whounderwent conventional spiral CT scanning immediately after the divided ingestion of 900ml diluted gastrografinwere selected as a control group(Group B). The anatomic delineation of the anastomosis site was graded by tworadiologists as excellent(3), good(2), fair(1) or poor(0). To evaluate the degree of distension, the maximaldiameters of remnant stomach and the anastomosis site, and the thickness of the stomach wall, were also measured. RESULTS: In group A, anatomic delineation of the anastomosis site was excellent, compared to group B(mean score:2.91 vs 1.19, P<0.01). In addition, the maximum diameters of remnant stomach and anastomosis site weresignificantly larger in group A than in group B(transverse A-P remnant stomach and anastomosis site : 92.4+/-16.0mm, 97.6+/-26.5mm, 29.7+/-7.3mm vs 50.6+/-12.9mm, 53.5+/-14.4mm, 7.7+/-4.4mm, P<0.01). The mean thickness of distended stomach wallin group A was 3.2+/-1.7mm ; in group B, measurement was possible in only a few cases, but their number was too smallfor comparison. CONCLUSION: In patients who had undergone subtobal gastrectomy, Levin tube inserted drip infusionspiral CT showed excellent anatomic delineation of the site of anastomosis and remnant stomach. We found thatbecause it increases the distension of remnant stomach and the anastomosis site, this technique is effective forthe evaluation of postoperative stomach.
Eating ; Gastrectomy ; Gastric Stump ; Gravitation ; Humans ; Infusions, Intravenous* ; Stomach ; Tomography, Spiral Computed* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Water

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of the expression of p53 gene product in operable invasive breast cancer by performing immunohistochemical analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 1993 and December 2001, 440 operable invasive breast cancer patients underwent immunohistochemical staining for p53, and we retrospectively analyzed these results together with the clinical outcomes. RESULTS: The overexpression of p53 was detected in 51.6% of the cases. The overexpression of p53 was inversely correlated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.005). The tumor size, tumor histology, histologic grade, hormonal receptor status and tumor stage were not related to the overexpression of p53. Multivariate Cox regression analysis indicate that lymph node metastasis, tumor size and the p53 expression were the significant prognostic factors for overall survival; lymph node metastasis, the estrogen receptor status and the p53 expression were the significant prognostic factors for relapse free survival. On the subgroup analysis, the p53 non-expressors showed better 7-year overall survival (92.7% vs. 76.7%, respectively, p=0.011) and relapse free survival (74.9% vs. 57.8%, respectively, p=0.032) than did the p53 overexpressors for the patients with lymph node metastasis. However, for the patients without lymph node metastasis, the survival rates were not different for both the p53 non-expressors and the p53 overexpressors. CONCLUSION: Immunohistochemical staining of the p53 gene product was an independent prognostic factor for predicting survival of the lymph node positive invasive breast cancer patients.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Estrogens ; Genes, p53* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Chronic postoperative pain (CPOP) is defined as pain of at least 2 months duration after a surgical procedure. Until recently, it has been a neglected topic, because it can occur after a wide spectrum of operations; however, little is known regarding its underlying mechanism, prevalence, risk factors, and treatments. We investigated characteristics of CPOP after various operations via a questionnaire. METHODS: Patients were contacted at > 2 months after surgery, irrespective of sex, type of operation or anesthesia method, and a follow-up pain questionnaire was administered by phone. RESULTS: One hundred forty-five of 400 patients (36.3%) described CPOP. The prevalence of CPOP was significantly lower in laparoscopic surgery (29/159, 18.2%) than open surgery (116/241, 48.1%). The prevalence of CPOP was higher with the use of PCA (patient controlled analgesia), (45.3%) than without PCA (24.6%). There were no significant differences regarding sex, anesthetic method, or duration of operation. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the prevalence of CPOP may be related to use of an endoscope and PCA. However, it is difficult to completely explain the correlation, because this is a complex area of research. More research is needed to improve the quality of pain relief.
Anesthesia ; Endoscopes ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Pain, Postoperative ; Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors

A 11-month-old male with severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) received allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). He had suffered from recurrent infection and chronic diarrhea. Two older brother died of pneumonia 2 months after birth, but his HLA identical sister was healthy. He had very low number of T lymphocyte and NK cell. Although number of B lymphocyte was normal, level of immunoglobulin was extremely low. First BMT was done when he was 11 months old. Eighteen milliliter of bone marrow was simply infused without conditioning or GVHD prophylaxis. T lymphocyte appeared and fever which persisted despite use of antibiotics disappeared at day 7. Grade II GVHD developed, but was well controlled with corticosteroid. T lymphocyte subpopulation became normal at day 42. But pancytopenia developed and persisted despite use of G-CSF. Second BMT was done 4 months after 1st BMT. The conditioning regimen included busulfan (8 mg/kg) and cyclophosphamide (200 mg/kg), and ATG, cyclosporine and short-course MTX were used for GVHD prophylaxis. He achieved ANC> 500/uL at day 20 and platelet> 20,000/uL at day 29. BM examination on day 45 showed that 100% of marrow cells were donor origin. Acute and chronic GVHD did not develop. Since T lymphocyte was observed on day 21, various immunological parameters were normalized sooner or later. Immunological reconstitution was complete on day 280. Vaccination was given after 1 year of BMT and he is healthy now.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bone Marrow ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Busulfan ; Cyclophosphamide ; Cyclosporine ; Diarrhea ; Fever ; Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; Infant ; Killer Cells, Natural ; Lymphocyte Subsets ; Lymphocytes ; Male ; Pancytopenia ; Parturition ; Pneumonia ; Siblings ; Tissue Donors ; Vaccination

Many patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy experience chest pain, and some of these patients are diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction. Acute myocardial infarction in the setting of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can occur without coronary atherosclerosis. Although the exact pathophysiologic mechanism of this remains unclear, some pathologic studies have suggested that small vessel coronary artery disease in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may play a major role in producing myocardial ischemia. Small vessel disease can be suspected when the coronary angiogram shows patent epicardial coronary arteries with slow flow of the angiographic contrast medium. We report here on a case of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy that was complicated with acute myocardial infarction, and this induced catastrophic refractory ventricular tachycardia.
Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Chest Pain ; Constriction, Pathologic ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Vessels ; Glycosaminoglycans ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Tachycardia, Ventricular