This study was conducted to compare activities of daily living, fatigue and depression between rheumatoid arthritis patients and healthy persons. The subjects consisted of 53 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 53 healthy persons at a university hospital in Daegu City. Data were collected by means of structured interviews with questionnaires from July 20, 1999 to August 25, 1999. The instrument used in this study were the activities of daily living scale developed by Katz et al. (1970) and Barthel(1973), Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue by Belza et al.(1995) and CES-D(Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression) scale. Analysis of data was done by use of descriptive statistics, Pearson Correlation, Chi-square test, t-test, ANOVA, MANCOVA and Duncan with the SPSS program. The major findings are summarized as follows: 1. The first hypothesis that the rheumatoid arthritis patients will have a lower degree of activities of daily living than the healthy persons was supported (F=4.584, p=.035). 2. The second hypothesis that the rheumatoid arthritis patient will have a higher degree of fatigue than the healthy persons was supported (F=7.799, p=.006). 3. The third hypothesis that the rheumatoid arthritis patients will have a higher degree of depression than the healthy persons was supported (F=4.768, p=.031). With the above results, it can be concluded that rheumatoid arthritis patients had a lower degree of activities of daily living and a higher degree of fatigue and depression than the healthy persons. Therefore, by providing appropriate nursing intervention, activities of daily living would be much better and fatigue and depression would be alleviated.
Activities of Daily Living* ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Daegu ; Depression* ; Fatigue* ; Humans ; Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) has been associated with the promotion of renal allograft interstitial fibrosis and thereby chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been shown to contribute to cytoprotection of the graft after kidney transplantation. We investigated the influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the TGF-beta1 (C-509T and T869C) and the VEGF gene (C-2578A and C405G) on graft survival and the development of CAN. METHODS: Genotyping was carried out using a real-time polymerase chain reaction which was performed on the LightCycler480 in 221 Korean renal transplant recipients and 148 healthy controls. According to the presence of CAN or chronic calcineurin inhibitor nephrotoxicity, the recipients were separated into the CAN (n=21) and the No CAN (n=200) groups. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies of the SNPs were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The distributions of genotypes and alleles did not differ between recipients and controls. No significant differences were observed in the genotype distributions and allele frequencies between the CAN and the No CAN groups. The frequencies of haplotypes were not significantly different between the two groups, either. There were no statistically significant effects of TGF-beta1 and VEGF gene polymorphisms on graft survival. CONCLUSION: This study did not show any statistically significant effects of four selected SNPs of the TGF-beta1 and the VEGF genes on the development of CAN and graft survival in Korean renal transplant recipients.
Alleles ; Calcineurin ; Cytoprotection ; Fibrosis ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Graft Survival ; Haplotypes ; Kidney Transplantation ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A

PURPOSE: TGF-beta-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is associated with peritoneal fibrosis during PD. We conducted this study to evaluate the effect of BMP-7 adenoviral gene transfer on the functional and structural changes of peritoneum and whether it is associated with peritoneal EMT using an animal PD model. METHODS: Forty Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups; Control (C, n=8), Dialysis (D, n= 8), Rest (R, n=8), BMP-7 (B, n=8) and LacZ (L, n=8) group. Peritoneal function was assessed on baseline, 3rd, 6th, 8th weeks after PD. Immunohistochemistry for TGF-beta, VEGF, laminin and aquaporin-1 was performed in addition to morphometric analysis of peritoneum. Immunofluorescence staining with western blotting for alpha-SMA and E-cadherin, as markers of EMT, was performed. RESULTS: The thickness of submesothelial matrix was highest in D and significantly decreased in B compared to D, R and L. D/D0 glucose at 8 weeks was significantly increased in B and L compared to that of at 6 weeks, but there were no significant differences among R, B and L at 8 weeks. TGF-beta1 and VEGF expression was observed in submesothelial matrix in D and decreased in R, B and L. Peritoneal fibrosis and functional deterioration of peritoneal membrane were associated with EMT, which was partially reversed in R, B and L. CONCLUSIONS: BMP-7 gene transfer to peritoneum was not associated with the additive therapeutic effect on peritoneal function compared to the peritoneal rest, although it improved morphologic changes of peritoneum.
Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 7 ; Cadherins ; Dialysis ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Genetic Therapy ; Glucose ; Immunohistochemistry ; Laminin ; Membranes ; Models, Animal ; Peritoneal Dialysis ; Peritoneal Fibrosis ; Peritoneum ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A