PURPOSE: Purpose of this study was to examine the impact of group dynamic imagery therapy on job stress and psychosocial stress of female nurses. METHODS: The research questions were tested through a quasi-experimental research with a non-equivalent pretest-posttest design. Seventy-seven female nurses from G University Hospital in J City participated in this study; 38 of them were assigned to the experimental group, and the rest were assigned to the control group. Once a week for 8 continuous weeks, participants in the experimental group had 90-minute group dynamic imagery therapies. RESULTS: 1) The level of job stress was significantly lower in the experimental group than the control group, and 2) The level of Psychosocial stress was also significantly lower in the experimental group than the control group. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that group dynamic imagery therapy can be an effective intervention against job stress and psychosocial stress of female nurses.
Female ; Humans

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the effects of tailored drug-related side effects management program using video designed to help patients with schizophrenia with self-control ability of drug-related side effects, attitude, and adherence to medication. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group, pretest-posttest design was used. The participants were 51 patients with schizophrenia, 26 in the experimental group and 25 in the control group. The tailored drug-related side effects management program using video was conducted for the experimental group twice a week for 60 minutes/session for 4 weeks. The self-control ability for drug-related side effects, attitude and adherence of medication were measured before and after the experiment. Data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS/WIN 20.0 program. RESULTS: At follow-up, we found statistically significant increases in self-control ability for drug-related side effects, attitude and adherence of medication for the experimental group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that tailored drug-related side effects management program using video was to increase self-control ability for drug-related side effects, attitude and adherence of medication in patients with schizophrenia.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medication Adherence ; Schizophrenia*

PURPOSE: This study was done to explore the correlation among mobile phone overuse, mental health and school adaptation, and to identify factors related mobile phone overuse. METHODS: A questionnaire was filled out by 943 elementary school students from 3rd to 6th grade in the cities of Busan and Ulsan. Frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 12.0 program were used to analyze the collected data. RESULTS: Mobile phone overuse in the elementary school students was positively correlated with mental health, and negatively correlated with school adaptation. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed the factors as school grade, gender, depression, anxiety, learning adaptation, adaptation to friends and adaptation rules significantly accounted for 23% of the variance for mobile phone overuse. The most significant factor influencing overuse of mobile phone was school grade. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that early screening and intervention programs for students with low mental health and low school adjustment would be helpful in preventing future mobile phone overuse.
Anxiety ; Busan ; Cellular Phone* ; Depression ; Friends ; Humans ; Learning ; Mass Screening ; Mental Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Ulsan

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the experience of Korean graduate nursing students' stressor, response, and coping. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with 37 students using broad, open-ended questions. Individual demographics were also collected. Focus Group Research was used to investigate the experience of these graduate nursing students. Data were gathered through audio taped interviews and analyzed using the Collazzi method. RESULTS: The findings related to stressors revealed 5 major themes (loading related to study, conflicts with hospital and occupation, difficulty of home management, destruction of biorhythm, loading of economy and pay for photocopying) and 15 relevant subthemes. The findings related to responses revealed 4 major themes (negative change in body, negative change in mental state, negative emotion and response about family, psychosocial loading - and 32 relevant subthemes. The findings related to coping revealed 12 major themes; for example, social support, interpretation positively, self disclosure, devoted study, temporary avoidance - and 16 relevant subthemes. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that nurses, hospitals, and other graduate schools should continue to develop of stress management programs and their linkages with more comprehensive integrated health delivery system.
Demography ; Focus Groups* ; Humans ; Nursing ; Occupations ; Periodicity ; Self Disclosure ; Students, Nursing*

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between severity of endometriosis and the incidence of endometrial polyp. METHODS: The study population consisted of six hundred thirty-one women who had undergone laparoscopic operation due to infertility, severe dysmenorrhea or ovarian tumors. We divided two groups: 434 women with endometriosis (study group) and 197 women without the disease (control group). The presence of endometriosis was documented by diagnostic or therapeutic laparoscopic operation and the disease severity was scored according to revised The American Fertility Society classification. We confirmed the endometrial polyps by pathologic examination after hysteroscopic polypectomy, and compared endometrial polyp incidence according to severity of endometriosis. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between groups with regard to age, mean duration of infertility. Endometrial polyps were found in 274 women (63.0%) with endometriosis and in 58 controls (29.8%, p=0.0000). The incidence of endometrial polyps differed significantly according to stage of endometriosis. The incidence of endometrial polyps were 77/142 (54.2%), 58/90 (64.4%), 73/108 (67.6%, p<0.05), 66/94 (70.2%, p<0.05) in endometriosis stage I, II, III, and IV. There was a linear correlation between stage of endometriosis and endometrial polyps incidence (p=0.008). CONCLUSION: Endometriosis is accompanied by endometrial polyps. This results showed positive correlation between severity of the endometriosis and incidence of endometrial polyps. It is the possible mechanism for low pregnancy rate in the severe endometriosis
Classification ; Dysmenorrhea ; Endometriosis* ; Female ; Fertility ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Infertility ; Polyps* ; Pregnancy Rate

BACKGROUND: Mutations in the gene encoding transforming growth factor-beta induced (TGFBI) are associated with corneal dystrophies. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of the GENEDIA Avellino corneal dystrophy (ACD) mutation detection kit and GENEDIA corneal dystrophy screening master mix (Green Cross Medical Science Co., Korea) by comparing it with an in-house sequencing method. METHODS: The study group consisted of 40 patients with Avellino corneal dystrophy (ACD) and 40 patients suspected to suffer from ACD; 40 healthy individuals were used as the control. All samples used for this study were previously obtained. All results obtained using the kit were evaluated for sensitivity, specificity, and detection limit. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the GENEDIA ACD kit was 100.0% with a positive mean+/-2SD Ct (cycle threshold) value of 25.87+/-1.24 and an excellent coefficient of variation value of 0.02 in ACD group. All normal control samples were negative, indicating a specificity of 100% for the GENEDIA kit. The detection limit was set at a DNA concentration of >0.2 ng/microL. Direct sequencing results obtained using the GENEDIA master mix and the in-house method agreed for all 20 ACD samples. Additional R555W mutation detected in four ACD-suspected samples were suggestive of the diagnosis of granular corneal dystrophy type I. CONCLUSIONS: The GENEDIA ACD detection kit and master mix showed acceptable results, demonstrating high sensitivity and specificity, and may be considered for clinical application. Furthermore, the GENEDIA master mix was useful for the detection of mutations in exons 4 and 12 of the TGFBI gene.
Diagnosis ; DNA ; Exons ; Humans ; Limit of Detection ; Mass Screening* ; Methods ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnosis and treatment of hysteroscopy and its complications. METHODS: Reviewed 415 cases treated by hysteroscopy during 1994.9-2003.2 at Ajou University Hospital. RESULTS: Major indications were infertility (321 cases, 77.3%) and gynecologic indications such as myoma, polyps etc (94 cases, 22.7%). Hysteroscopic findings were polyp (192 cases, 46.3%), synechiae (72 cases, 17.3%), submucosal myoma (21 cases, 5.1%) and uterine anomaly (13 cases, 3.1%). Complications were 2 cases of uterine perforations and one case of bowel injury. CONCLUSION: Hysteroscopy is a safe, minimally invasive procedure with a low rate of complications.
Diagnosis* ; Hysteroscopy* ; Infertility ; Myoma ; Polyps ; Uterine Perforation

Uterine malformations consist of a group of miscellaneous congenital anomalies of the female genital system, and these anomalies are the result of major disturbances in the development, such as formation or fusion of the Mullerian or paramesonephric ducts during fetal life. The Mullerian anomalies have been estimated to occur in up to 0.001~10%, and these anomalies may be associated with numerous congenital anomalies, and ipsilateral renal anomalies especially are the most common. The uterine didelphys with obstructed hemivagina and ipsilateral renal agenesis clinically may result in dysmenorrhea, low abdominal pain, endometriosis or pelvic mass after menarche. Furthemore the delayed diagnosis causes infertility and poor pregnancy outcome due to continued retrograde menstruation which leads to endometriosis and distorted pelvic anatomy. These anomalies could be diagnosed with ultrasonography and MRI that have the high sensitivity and specificity. Excision of vaginal septum and marsupialization are appropriate treatments to relieve symptoms and reserve fertility. We report 7 cases of uterine didelphys with obstructed hemivagina and ipsi-unilateral renal agenesis with a brief review of relevant literatures to help understand these anomalies.
Abdominal Pain ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Delayed Diagnosis ; Dysmenorrhea ; Endometriosis ; Female ; Fertility ; Humans ; Infertility ; Kidney ; Kidney Diseases ; Menarche ; Menstruation Disturbances ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of TGF (Transforming growth factor-beta) involved in the paracrinic communication during decidualization between UEC (uterine epithelial cells) and USC (uterine stromal cells), we have employed a co-culture system composed of human endometrial epithelial and stromal cells in defined hormonal conditions. DESiGN: in the co-culture, endometrial epithelial cells cultured in the matrigel-coated cell culture insert are seeded on top of the endometrial stromal cells cultured within a collagen gel. The co-culture was maintained for 48 hours under the following hormonal conditions: progesterone dominant condition (100 nM P4 and 1 nM E2) or estrogen-dominant condition (100 nM E2 and 1 nM P4). 10 ng/ ml HGF and/or 10 ng/ml TGF-beta1 are added. METHODS: RT-PCR is utilized to detect mRNAs quantitatively. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELiSA) and immunohistochemical staining are utilized to detect proteins in the tissue. RESULTS: Prolactin mRNA is expressed in the co-cultured stromal cells under the progesterone dominant condition. TGF-beta1 and its receptors are expressed in both the co-cultured epithelial and stromal cells irrespective of the steroid present, which is in contrast with no or negligible expression of TGF-beta1 or its receptor in cells separately cultured. Both estrogen and progesterone significantly elevate the concentration of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in the conditioned medium of the co-culture with the value of 4,325 pg/ml in E2-dominant and 2,000 pg/ml in P4-dominant condition compare to 150 pg/ ml in no hormone. in separately cultured stromal cells, administration of HGF induces the expression of TGF receptor 1 in both hormonal conditions, but induction of TGF receptor 2 is only manifest in the P4-dominant condition. Administration of TGF-beta and HGF directly induce the decidualization marker prolactin mRNA in separately cultured stromal cells. CONCLUSION: it is likely that steroid hormones induces prolactin mRNA indirectly by promoting the cell to cell communication between the stromal and the epithelial cells. TGF-beta and HGF are two possible paracrine mediators in the human endometrial decidualization.
Cell Communication ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Coculture Techniques ; Collagen ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epithelial Cells ; Estrogens ; Hepatocyte Growth Factor ; Humans* ; Progesterone ; Prolactin ; RNA, Messenger ; Stromal Cells ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1

No abstract available.