No abstract available.
Anemia, Aplastic* ; Hepatitis*

One-to three -month-old infants(n=252) were compared their growth performance(weight, length, head circumference, chest circumference) by feeding methods in cross-sectional study. There were two groups : breast-fed(BF) and formula-fed groups(FF). The weights of infants at 1, 2, and 3 postpartum month were 4.50+/-.48kg, 5.76+/-0.62kg and 6.67+/-0.68kg, respectively. The weigh of male infants was higher than females. The length were 53.7+/-2.6cm, 57.4+/-3.3cm, 61.1+/-3.1cm at one to three postpartum months, respectively. The length of male infants was higher than females, too. Overall there were no significant differences between feeding methods in weight, length, head and chest circumferences, and monthly weight and length velocity. But 3-month-old formula-fed male infants showed bigger significantly in weight, monthly weight velocity and chest circumference than the breast-feds. By Korean standards, weight-for-height Z-score were distributed from 0 to +2. Not only was there a few malnourished infants but also overnourished were noticed, especially in formula-fed group.
Breast* ; Cross-Sectional Studies* ; Feeding Methods ; Female ; Head ; Humans ; Infant* ; Male ; Postpartum Period* ; Thorax ; Weights and Measures

Background: Postoperative sore throat is a complaint after general anesthesia of multifactorial etiology. The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) reduces sore throat and discomfort during maintenance of the airway and make patients more comfortable. The purpose of this study was to compare effect of patient's position during operation on postoperative sore throat after the use of LMA. Methods: The fifty three patients were randomly divided into two groups. Group 1 (n=30) was underwent general anesthesia with supine position and group 2 (n=23) with prone position. After the LMA was positioned in the hypopharynx and the cuff inflated, fiberoptic laryngoscope was immediately passed down through the LMA. Number of attempts, degree of postoperative sore throat and other complications were also noted. Results: The incidence of postoperative sore throat after the use of LMA was 10% in supine position and 4% in prone position. But the difference between the groups was not statistically significant. All of the reported sore throats were rated as mild. Conclusions: Postoperative sore throat after the use of LMA is mild and the incidence is not affected by the prone position during the operation.
Anesthesia, General ; Humans ; Hypopharynx ; Incidence ; Laryngeal Masks* ; Laryngoscopes ; Pharyngitis* ; Prone Position* ; Supine Position

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify meaning and essential structure of the hospitalization of patients in nursing care integrated service wards of small and medium-size general hospitals. METHODS: Experiential data were collected through in-depth interviews with 10 patients who had been hospitalized in nursing care integrated service wards of medium general hospitals. The main question was ‘Could you describe your hospitalization experience in nursing care integrated service wards of medium general hospitals?’, and collected data were analyzed using Colaizzi's Phenomenological Research Method. RESULTS: Four categories obtained were ‘Realize the system that is not established yet’, ‘Secure care services which are less of a psychological and financial burden’, ‘Thanks for care providers’, and ‘Confident of the hopeful system to desire to reuse in the future.’ CONCLUSION: Patients in nursing care integrated service wards of small and medium-size general hospitals were satisfied with the reduction of mental and financial burden caused by nursing and were thankful to nursing staff, who put a lot of efforts into nursing. But, at the same time, they were confused and inconvenienced by the services that were not yet completely established. To improve this situation, it is thought that institutional complements including development of a service standardization manual would be helpful.
Complement System Proteins ; Hope ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Methods ; Nursing Care ; Nursing Staff ; Nursing ; Primary Nursing ; Qualitative Research

BACKGROUND: Leprosy is an infectious disease with two polar forms, tuberculoid leprosy (TT) and lepromatous leprosy (LL), that are characterized by strong cell-mediated immunity (CMI) and CMI anergy, respectively. Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is a family of growth factors involved in essential physiological processes, including development, differentiation, tissue repair, cell growth control and inflammation. Cellular signaling by TGF-beta family members is initiated by the assembly of specific cell surface receptors that activate transcription factors of the Smad family. Deregulation of the TGF-beta-Smad signaling pathway has been implicated in developmental disorders and several human diseases. Recently, ELISA & immunohistochemistry revealed high expression of TGF-beta isoforms in LL. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate TGF-beta-Smad signaling in various forms of leprosy. METHODS: We investigated the involvement of TGF-beta by immunohistochemical staining for Smad 2 and 3 in skin biopsies from six patients of BL and four patients of TT. RESULTS: The inflammatory cells, keratinocytes and fibroblasts in BL showed strong positivity for both Smad 2 and 3, whereas those in TT showed little positivity. CONCLUSION: The high expression of Smad 2/3 in BL could represent high expression of TGF-beta, which possibly contributes to local CMI anergy and other clinical characteristic features of leprosy.
Biopsy ; Communicable Diseases ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fibroblasts ; Humans ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunohistochemistry ; Inflammation ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Keratinocytes ; Leprosy* ; Leprosy, Lepromatous ; Leprosy, Tuberculoid ; Physiological Processes ; Protein Isoforms ; Receptors, Cell Surface ; Skin ; Transcription Factors ; Transforming Growth Factor beta

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure family resilience for Korean families with a chronically ill child, and to test the validity and reliability of the instrument. METHOD: The items of instruments used based on the researchers' previous study of concept analysis of Korean family resilience. Nineteen item scales were developed with five domains. In order to test reliability and validity of the scale, data were collected from 231 families, who had a child with a chronic illness. Data was collected between August and September of 2001 in a 3rd level University Hospital in Seoul, Korea. RESULT: The results were as follows: As a result of the item analysis, 19 items were selected from the total of 37 items, excluding items with low correlation with the total scale. Five factors were evolved by factor analysis, which explained 56.4% of the total variance. The first factor 'Family strength' explained 28.5%, 2nd factor 'Family maturity' 8.7%, 3rd factor 'The ability to use of external resources' 7.0%, 4th factor 'Control' 6.6%, 5th factor 'The driving force for finance' 5.7%. The attributes in these factors were different with those identified by concept analysis of the family resilience in Korean families from the previous study. Cronbach's alphacoefficient of this scale was .8039 and Guttman spilt- half coefficient was .8184. CONCLUSION: The study support the reliability and validity of the scale. Because the main concept of family resilience was family strength, there were distinct differences in dimensions of family functioning scales.
Child ; Chronic Disease ; Humans ; Korea ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seoul ; Weights and Measures

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to meta-analyze the relationships of major concepts, which were made by synthesizing similar explanatory variables into more comprehensive concepts, to hope. METHOD: The relevant researches from Jan 1980 to Dec 2003, performed in adults or adult patients, were collected. Using the SAS program, meta-analysis were done with the input data of the number of subjects, the correlation coefficients provided from most of the studies or a few transformed correlation coefficients from F value. In order to get the analysis to be done in homogeneous status of the data regarding each relationship of each major concept to hope(p>0.05), heterogeneous data were eliminated in repeating Q-test. RESULT: The major variable regarding relationship to self/transcendental being/life(spiritual wellbeing & self esteem) and social support(social support & family support) have very large positive effects on hope(D(_)=1.72, D(_)=1.27). The negative effect of the variable regarding captive state(uncertainty in illness, perceived unhealthiness status, & fatigue) and positive effect of coping(approach coping) on hope are in the level between moderate to large(D(_)=-0.61,D(_)=0.78). All the effects of the major concepts on hope were verified as significant statistically(p=.000). The Fail -Safe numbers showed the significant effects of the three major concepts except coping on hope were reliable. CONCLUSION: The results can be a guide to advance hope theory for nursing.
Attitude to Health ; *Emotions ; Humans ; Self Concept ; Social Support ; Spirituality

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop the instrument to measure family functioning for Korean family with a chronic ill child, and to test the validity and reliability of the instrument. METHOD: The items of instrument were consisted based on researchers' previous study of concept analysis of the Korean family functioning. Twenty six item scale was developed with six domains. In order to test reliability and validity of the scale, data were collected from the 231 families, who have a child with a chronic illness. Data was collected between August and September in 2001 in a General Hospital in Seoul, Korea. RESULT: The results were as follows:As a result of the item analysis, 24 items were selected from the total of 26 items, excluding items with low correlation with total scale. Six factors were evolved by factor analysis. Six factors explained 61.4% of the total variance. The first factor 'Affective bonding' explained 15.4%, 2nd factor 'External relationship' 11.8%, 3rd factor 'Family norm' 10.5%, 4th factor 'Role and responsibilities' 8.3%, 5th factor ' Communication' 7.9%, and the 6th factor 'Financial resource' explained 7.3%. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this scale was .87 and Guttman spilt- half coefficient was .84. CONCLUSION: The study support the reliability and validity of the scale. There were distinct differences in dimensions of family functioning scales developed in the U. S.
Child ; Chronic Disease ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Korea ; Reproducibility of Results ; Seoul ; Weights and Measures

Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) consists of an abnormal connection between artery and vein without any interposed capillary bed, and is usually congenital. However, acquired AVM is quite rare, and is usually caused by injury, which induces direct arteriovenous shunting. Acquired digital AVM is a distinct entity, which was first described by Kadono et al. in 2000, and was thought to result from shunts between an artery and a vein in a finger tip. We report a case of acquired digital AVM in a 44-year-old women. The patient showed punctate hyperketatotic ectasia on the pulp of the right thumb. Histological finding showed dilated venous and arterial vessels in upper and lower dermis, and shunts between arteriols and venules.
Adult ; Arteries ; Arteriovenous Malformations* ; Capillaries ; Dermis ; Dilatation, Pathologic ; Female ; Fingers ; Humans ; Thumb ; Veins ; Venules

Widespread use of amitriptyline in clinical practice has led to extensive knowledge of its therapeutic and toxic effects. In cases of amitriptyline overdose, delirium, arrhythmia, convulsion, and adult respiratory distress syndrome have been reported, but amitriptyline-associated rhabdomyolysis has been rarely reported in the literature. Several drugs are associated with myositis or myopathy, but amitriptyline-related myositis has not been reported. We describe a 40-year-old woman with rhabdomyolysis and localized myositis in left proximal thigh after she had taken 625mg of amitriptyline.
Adult ; Amitriptyline ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Delirium ; Female ; Humans ; Muscular Diseases ; Myositis* ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Rhabdomyolysis* ; Seizures ; Thigh