No abstract available.
Biofeedback, Psychology* ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone* ; Hypertension* ; Muscle Relaxation*

Humans ; Hypertension ; psychology ; Occupations ; Social Support

OBJECTIVETo investigate the sociopsychological basis of hypertensive disorder in pregnancy (HDP) and explore a new pathway for etiological study of HDP.

METHODSA prospective investigation was conducted in 1154 women in second trimester pregnancy and 9 factors were surveyed using Olson marital quality questionnaire (ENRIC). The discrepancy between the norms and factor scores of ENRIC was analyzed, and the scores of ENRIC were compared between normal gravidas and patients with HDP. The correlation between ENRIC scores and the severity of the condition was also evaluated.

RESULTSThe score of the 1124 gravidas for marital satisfaction was significantly higher than the norm (P<0.05), but the scores for relationship with relatives and sexual life were significantly lower (P<0.05). The other 6 factors had similar scores with the norms (P>0.05). Patients with HDP had significantly lower scores for 7 factors than the normal gravidas (P<0.05), but had comparable scores for financial arrangement and sexual life (P>0.05). The severity of HDP was not found to associate with variation of the scores for the 9 factors (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONSMarital quality is an important social and psychological basis of HDP, and this study provides some evidence for the social and psychological investigation of the etiology of HDP.

Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Hypertension ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Marriage ; psychology ; Pregnancy ; psychology ; Quality of Life ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

Hypertension is closely related to salt and water retention. The kidney plays an important role in the blood pressure regulation primarily to modulating tubular sodium and water reabsorption. The regulation of the salt and water balance depends upon an array of solute and water channels in the renal tubules. An altered regulation of sodium and water channels in the kidney may be related to various pathological conditions associated with altered salt and water retention. This review will discuss renal handling of sodium and water, with particular emphasis on aquaporins and renal sodium transporters and channels.
Aquaporins ; Blood Pressure ; Handling (Psychology) ; Hypertension ; Kidney ; Membrane Transport Proteins ; Retention (Psychology) ; Sodium ; Water

Steroid is a critical component of immunosuppressive regimen. Unfortunately, steroid is associated with numerous adverse effects including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, osteoporosis, sodium retention, and avascular necrosis. These adverse effects have prompted trials of steroid withdrawal with introduction of potent immunosuppressive agents in renal transplantation. Although late steroid withdrawal raised acute rejection rate compared with early steroid withdrawal, results of recent trials that used diverse steroid withdrawal protocols suggest good short and long term graft outcomes. But, in patients survival, patients with steroid withdrawal is similar to patients administered steroid. This review summarizes usefulness according to timing of steroid withdrawal and re-exams benefits of steroid withdrawal in renal transplantation.
Humans ; Hyperlipidemias ; Hypertension ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Transplantation ; Necrosis ; Osteoporosis ; Rejection (Psychology) ; Retention (Psychology) ; Sodium ; Transplants

Primary aldosteronism due to unilateral adenoma is a rare cause of surgically curable hypertension. Bilateral adrenal mass has occasionally been reported in this syndrome, and bilateral aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), or bilateral adrenal nodular hyperplasia have been demonstrated in some cases. However, another possibility is the coexistence of a unilateral APA with a contralateral benign or metastatic nonfunctioning mass, because adrenal tumors are frequently found at autopsy or incidentally detected during abdominal morphological evaluation in patients without adrenal dysfunction. A 39 year-old woman presented with hyperaldosteronism, suppressed renin levels, and bilateral adrenal mass on adrenal CT scanning. Selective adrenal venous sampling was unsuccessful in demonstrating concentration gradient of aldosterone. Postoperative measurement of hormone content in the tumor extract revealed unilateral aldosteron-producing adenoma with contralateral nonfunctioning black adenoma, Determination of hormone content in the tumor extract could be useful for the discrimination of functioning and nonfunctioning endocrine tumors, particularly in case of multiple tumors.
Adenoma* ; Adult ; Aldosterone ; Autopsy ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism ; Hyperplasia ; Hypertension ; Renin ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have evaluated atrial electromechanical delays (AEMDs) with a number of different definitions to discriminate patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) from controls without PAF. However, their discriminative values for PAF have not previously been directly compared. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 65 PAF patients and 130 control subjects matched for age, sex, history of hypertension, and diabetes mellitus were selected. The AEMDi and AEMDp were defined as the time intervals from the initiation of the P wave on the surface electrocardiogram to the initiation and peak of the late diastolic transmitral inflow on pulsed wave Doppler images, respectively. The AEMDim and AEMDpm were defined as the time intervals from the initiation of the P wave on the surface electrocardiogram to the initiation and peak of the late diastolic lateral mitral annular motion on tissue Doppler images, respectively. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the clinical characteristics between the two groups. All 4 AEMDs were consistently longer in the PAF group, and proven effective to differentiate the PAF patients from the controls. The AEMDi measurement had a larger area under the curve (AUC) than the other AEMDs, left atrial volume index, and P wave amplitude. However, the AEMDp, AEMDim, and AEMDpm measurements had AUCs similar to those of the left atrial volume index and P wave amplitude. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the AEMDi is better than the other AEMDs for the discrimination of PAF patients from the controls.
Area Under Curve ; Atrial Fibrillation* ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Discrimination (Psychology)* ; Echocardiography ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Hypertension

BACKGROUND: An elective operation is cancelled by many causes. Cancellation of the operation bothers patients physically and emotionally; also it affects the patient's family emotionally. If we know the causes of cancellation, we can prevent them. In addition we can provide better quality medical service. METHOD: We examined all patients scheduled for an operation in An - am Hospital, Korea University from August 3rd, 1999 to September 19th, 1999 and from September 16th, 1999 to December 6th, 1999. We counted the number of operations which were cancelled on the day of operation and put together the causes of cancellation after asking surgical employees. RESULTS: The total numbers of scheduled patients was 2,494 and cancelled patients was 512. The overall cancellation rate was 20.5%. The most common cause was departmental, 48.4%; abnormal laboratory results, 24.8%; patients denial, 9.6%; inadequate preparation, 7.0%; overtime, 5.5%; or a change to local anesthesia, 4.7%. In the departmental causes, 52% was due to an excessive schedule (129/248); 32.3% to delayed admission (80/248); 8.9% to clerical error (22/248); 4.4% to operator problems (11/248); and 1.6% to delayed transfer (4/248). In the abnormal laboratory results, 27.6% were due to the medical causes (35/127); 23.6% to LFT (30/127); 23% to an EKG (23/127); 18% to a chest roentgenogram (18/127); 8.7% to a URI (11/127); and 5.5% to hypertension (7/127). CONCLUSIONS: Overall the cancellation rate of elective surgery was 20.5%. The most common cause was departmental (48.7%), and abnormal laboratory results (24.8%) was next.
Anesthesia, Local ; Appointments and Schedules ; Denial (Psychology) ; Electrocardiography ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Korea ; Thorax

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of an internet community on knowledge, self-efficacy, and self-care behavior in workers with hypertension. METHOD: The research design used was a nonequivalent control group pre-test and post-test design. Sixty hypertensive workers participated in this study(Exp.=29, Cont.=31). The data was collected from the 3rd of November 2003 to the 27th of February 2004 using an interview with questionnaires. Information related to hypertension was provided on the internet community weekly and an e-mail newsletter was sent in order to increase participation in the internet community. We used a tool developed by Park Young-Im(1994) that measured knowledge related to hypertension and self-efficacy. A tool developed by Jung Mi-Young(2001) was used for self-care behavior. The collected data was analyzed with an chi2-test and t-test using the SPSS WIN 10.0 program. RESULT: The internet community helped workers with hypertension to increase their knowledge related to hypertension, as well as increasing their self-efficacy and self-care behavior. CONCLUSION: An internet community could be applied as hypertensive nursing intervention.
*Self Efficacy ; *Self Care ; Patient Education ; Male ; *Internet ; Hypertension/*psychology ; Humans ; *Health Behavior ; Electronic Mail ; Adult

This study was conducted to assess the effects of noise exposure and psychosocial factor on blood pressure in manufacturing workers. The study subjects are 414 workers (243 males, 171 females) employed at the noisy department. The mean age of low exposed group (<85dB) was 34.65+/-9.53 years, and that of high exposed group (> or =85dB) was 36.37+/-11.15 years. The difference in mean age wart not significant. The mean and distribution of working duration, smoking status, drinking status were not significantly different between two groups. The mean systolic blood pressure of the low exposed groups was 120.01+/-12.06 mmHg, and that of high exposed group wart 126.27+/-13.84 mmHg. The mean diastolic blood pressure of the low exposed and the high exposed group were 77.18+/-10.83 mmHg, and 83.46+/-11.22 mmHg respectively. These differences of blood pressure were statistically significant(p<0.05). The workers in noisy department have significantly less work environmental satisfaction, higher job demand, and higher social support. The mean values of psychosocial distress were higher in the workers of the noisy department, but the difference was not statistically significant. This study was to speculate whether the work environmental satisfaction and social supports modify the association between the noise exposure level and the blood pressure. The results showed that work environmental satisfaction could not modify the association between the blood pressure and the noise exposure. Social support at work did not modify the association. Furthermore, we evaluated the high job strain from a combination of high job demand and low job control at work. Compared to the low strain group, the olds ratio of the high job strain group for hypertension in diastolic blood pressure were statistically significant, but not in systolic blood pressure. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to determine whether the independent variables contributed to explaining the blood pressure. After controlling for possible confounders, we found that the noise exposure level was a correlate of the diastolic blood pressure. But no association between the noise exposure level and the systolic blood pressure. No significant result was found for psychosocial factor.
Blood Pressure* ; Drinking ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Male ; Noise* ; Psychology* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Warts