OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of self-esteem and social support on the depression stati of some clinical nurses, and propose basic data for a depression care program. METHODS: Between March 31 and April 5 at 2006, a self-reporting questionnaire survey was administered to 200 nurses at a general hospital located in Gyeonggi-do. The Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess the subjects'depression stati. RESULTS: The average BDI score of the clinical nurses was 8.9+/-7.5, with 59% belonging to the normal category, 28% having mild depressive symptoms, and 13% with a moderate degree of depressive symptoms. The degree of depression was significantly increased in the clinical nurses with a lower self-esteem and less social support. The degree of depression was significantly increased in the clinical nurses with a lower self-esteem and less social support. According to a multivariate regression analysis, a significant association was found between self-esteem and social support in relation to the depression of clinical nurses. The effect of social support was found to not be significant in cases where the self-esteem was high: however, depression was significantly influenced by social support in cases where the self-esteem was low. CONCLUSION: Self-esteem and social support were observed to influence the depression stati of clinical nurses. Therefore, it is suggested that an increase in depression management programs is required to create systematic management to maintain an atmosphere of high self-esteem and close relationships to manage the depression of clinical nurses.
Atmosphere ; Depression* ; Gyeonggi-do ; Hospitals, General ; Questionnaires

OBJECTIVES: This study compared cognitive-behavioral traits related to eating behaviors, obsessive-compulsive traits, and depression levels in bulimic subjects with and without a history of anorexia nervosa according to the perspective that there are common diagnostic transitions over time in subgroups of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and eating disorder not otherwise specified). METHODS: We compared EDI-2, MOCI, and BDI scores between the bulimic group with a history of anorexia (n=98), the bulimic group without a history of anorexia (n=99), and the non-clinic group (n=100) by ANOVA. RESULTS: The bulimic group with a history of anorexia showed significantly higher scores on four of the EDI-2 subscales (Ineffectiveness, Interoceptive Awareness, Impulse Regulation and Social Insecurity) than the other two groups. They also indicated significantly higher scores on both the MOCI subscale 'rumination' and BDI than both the other groups. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that it is important to consider a prior history of anorexia nervosa in order to understand symptom severity in patients with bulimia. Psychological variables such as ineffectiveness, impulse regulation, social insecurity, rumination, and depression are crucial to consider while treating bulimics with a history of anorexia.
Anorexia ; Anorexia Nervosa ; Bulimia ; Bulimia Nervosa ; Depression ; Feeding and Eating Disorders ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this case report is to introduce the development process, structure, characteristics, and effectiveness of the web database (DB) system developed for the hypertension management program in the primary health care setting in the low-income urban areas of Peru. METHODS: A Korean research team cooperated with a Peruvian IT startup company to develop a web DB system to improve the data management of the hypertension management program. The entire web application infrastructure was hosted using the Amazon Web Service. Two different web platforms were established for the user groups of health workers and researchers (program managers). RESULTS: A total of 2,827 program participants were registered in the web DB system until December 2017. Health professionals can input the participant data while providing consultation to the program participants, and the data is accumulated in the web DB in real time. Input errors or data loss is prevented by setting restrictions in the data entry system. During the 4-year project period, 7,696 hours of working time and USD 39,536.48 for data management were saved as the result of web DB system utilization. CONCLUSIONS: The developed web DB system contributed to improve the health condition of the health program participants by providing necessary information to the health professionals at the right time. This case report could be a reference for other researcher to develop web databases for their own context, especially in developing countries.
Developing Countries ; Electronic Health Records ; Health Information Systems ; Health Occupations ; Hypertension* ; Peru* ; Primary Health Care*

Silent information regulator 2 (Sirtuin2 / SIRT2) is a NAD⁺-dependent deacetylase that regulates the cellular oxidative stress response. It modulates transcriptional silencing and protein stability through deacetylation of target proteins including histones. Previous studies have shown that SIRT2 plays a role in mood disorders and hippocampus-dependent cognitive function, but the underlying neurobiological mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we report that chronic stress suppresses SIRT2 expression in the hippocampus. Molecular and biochemical analyses indicate that the stress-induced decrease in the SIRT2 expression downregulates synaptic plasticity-related genes in the hippocampus through the increase of euchromatic histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 2 (Ehmt2) (also known as G9a). shRNA-mediated knockdown of SIRT2 in the dentate gyrus alters the expression of synaptic plasticity-related genes in a way similar to those induced by chronic stress, and produces depression-like behaviors. Our results indicate that SIRT2 plays an important role in the response to stress, thereby modulating depression-like behaviors.
Cognition ; Dentate Gyrus ; Depression ; Down-Regulation ; Hippocampus ; Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase ; Histones ; Mood Disorders ; Neuronal Plasticity ; Oxidative Stress ; Protein Stability ; Up-Regulation

Background/Aims: Weather and air pollution are associated with the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. We investigated patterns of medical care use according to meteorological factors and air pollution in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: We analyzed the medical care utilization patterns of patients with asthma or COPD registered in the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment database for the period 2007 to 2013. The patterns were divided into hospitalization and emergency department (ED) use. Results: The medical care use of patients with asthma or COPD increased when the mean temperature and relative humidity were lower, and the temperature difference and atmospheric pressure were greater. Medical care use increased with the concentrations of particulate matter and ozone. Among age groups, sensitivity to pollutants was greatest in patients aged ≥ 65 years. The effect of being elderly was greater for asthma than for COPD, with a higher hospitalization rate. ED utilization affected by environmental factors was significantly greater for females and hospitalization was significantly more common for males. Conclusions Meteorological factors and air pollutants were shown to contribute to increased medical care utilization by patients with asthma and COPD, particularly elderly patients. The overall effect was greater for COPD, but the effect in elderly patients was greater for asthma. In addition, the patterns of change in medical care use due to environmental factors differed according to sex.

Background/Aims: Weather and air pollution are associated with the exacerbation of respiratory diseases. We investigated patterns of medical care use according to meteorological factors and air pollution in patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: We analyzed the medical care utilization patterns of patients with asthma or COPD registered in the Korea Health Insurance Review and Assessment database for the period 2007 to 2013. The patterns were divided into hospitalization and emergency department (ED) use. Results: The medical care use of patients with asthma or COPD increased when the mean temperature and relative humidity were lower, and the temperature difference and atmospheric pressure were greater. Medical care use increased with the concentrations of particulate matter and ozone. Among age groups, sensitivity to pollutants was greatest in patients aged ≥ 65 years. The effect of being elderly was greater for asthma than for COPD, with a higher hospitalization rate. ED utilization affected by environmental factors was significantly greater for females and hospitalization was significantly more common for males. Conclusions Meteorological factors and air pollutants were shown to contribute to increased medical care utilization by patients with asthma and COPD, particularly elderly patients. The overall effect was greater for COPD, but the effect in elderly patients was greater for asthma. In addition, the patterns of change in medical care use due to environmental factors differed according to sex.

BACKGROUND: ABO blood typing in pre-transfusion testing is a major component of the high workload in blood banks that therefore requires automation. We often experienced discrepant results from an automated system, especially weak serum reactions. We evaluated the discrepant results by the reference manual method to confirm ABO blood typing. METHODS: In total, 13,113 blood samples were tested with the AutoVue system; all samples were run in parallel with the reference manual method according to the laboratory protocol. RESULTS: The AutoVue system confirmed ABO blood typing of 12,816 samples (97.7%), and these results were concordant with those of the manual method. The remaining 297 samples (2.3%) showed discrepant results in the AutoVue system and were confirmed by the manual method. The discrepant results involved weak serum reactions (<2+ reaction grade), extra serum reactions, samples from patients who had received stem cell transplants, ABO subgroups, and specific system error messages. Among the 98 samples showing ≤1+ reaction grade in the AutoVue system, 70 samples (71.4%) showed a normal serum reaction (≥2+ reaction grade) with the manual method, and 28 samples (28.6%) showed weak serum reaction in both methods. CONCLUSIONS: ABO blood tying of 97.7% samples could be confirmed by the AutoVue system and a small proportion (2.3%) needed to be re-evaluated by the manual method. Samples with a 2+ reaction grade in serum typing do not need to be evaluated manually, while those with ≤1+ reaction grade do.
ABO Blood-Group System/*blood ; Automation ; Blood Banks ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching/instrumentation/*methods ; Humans

PURPOSE: p16 gene, mapped to the 9p21 chromosomal region, has emerged as a candidate tumor suppressor gene in human neoplasm. It is an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinase and inhibits Rb phosphorylation. In a variety of tumors including childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), deletion and/or mutation of the p16 gene has been found. Despite their high frequency, the prognostic importance of p16 alterations is still controversial in ALL and has been reported to be either unfavorable or similar to that of other patients. We studied the correlation between loss of p16 protein confirmed by immunohistochemical staining and clinical outcomes of patients diagnosed as ALL. METHODS: We performed an immunohistochemical staining for p16 protein in 74 cases of bone marrow biopsy slide initially diagnosed as ALL between January 1998 and December 2006. We reviewed the clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, treatment outcomes retrospectively. RESULTS: Of 74 slides, 12 were negative for p16 protein. Seven were males and 5 were females with a median age at diagnosis was 5.8 (1.3-18.8) years. Initial WBC were 17,225 (500-403,300)/microL. By immunologic surface marker analysis, 7 patients were early pre-B CALLA (+) and 5 patients were T-cell ALL. Two patients of intermediate risk group had relapsed and died. Three patients had family history of breast cancer. Four patients died and overall survival rates were 53.5+/-18.7%. CONCLUSION: Loss of p16 protein is supposed to be an independent risk factor of childhood ALL associated with poor outcomes. In clinical setting, the clinician must take into account p16 status, not only at the genomic but also at the protein level. Further clinical experience on thoroughly investigated cases will help a better understanding between p16 status and clinical outcomes.
Biopsy ; Bone Marrow ; Breast Neoplasms ; Female ; Genes, p16 ; Genes, Tumor Suppressor ; Humans ; Leukemia ; Male ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphotransferases ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; Risk Factors ; Survival Rate ; T-Lymphocytes

PURPOSE: Parsonage-Turner syndrome is a rare disorder with sudden onset of severe pain around the shoulder girdle, followed by weakness of the shoulder muscles. The purpose of the current study was to describe the clinical features associated with this condition and to review the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of the Parsonage-Turner syndrome was carried out for 6 patients seen from December 2005 to July 2008. The clinical and radiographic data was collected by medical records and telephone interviews. Five patients were males and one was female with ages ranging between 20-68 years (mean, 43.5). The mean follow-up period was 19.1 months (range, 14-27 months). RESULTS: The intense pain around shoulder continued for 1 day to 3 weeks and decreased spontaneously at a mean of 3.3 weeks (range, 2-5 weeks) after onset of pain. Weakness in the involved muscles had developed at a mean of four weeks (range, 2-7 weeks). At the end of follow-up, five patients had an improvement of their strength and one patient had regained full strength. Electromyography was the most helpful in diagnosis. CONCLUSION: Parsonage-Turner syndrome is a self-limited disorder with a good outcome. Understanding of the course will assist in the diagnosis and treatment.
Brachial Plexus Neuritis ; Electromyography ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Male ; Medical Records ; Muscles ; Retrospective Studies ; Shoulder

Behcet's disease is chronic and systemic inflammatory vasculitis, characterized by immunologically involving in variable size of arteries and veins. Clinically, principal manifestations are recurrent oral ulcer, genital ulcer, skin and eye lesions. Compared to other connective tissue disease, cancer is not accompanied commonly in Behcet's disease. But, immunological confusion such as T cell depletion or B cell hyperplasia, or long-term of immunosuppressive treatment lead to occurrence of malignancy. Recently, we experienced a case of maxillary mass, induced to abrupt headache in Behcet's disease, confirmed diffuse large B cell lymphoma by biopsy, and treated by rituximab-CHOP chemotherapy. Thus we report these with literature review.
Biopsy