Lumbar braces, cast jackets and lumbar corsets are commonly prescribed for the relief of low back pain or the prevention of instability of lumbar or lumbosacral vertebrae. These devices have been presumed to achive their effect by (1) decreasing movement at the involved intervertebral joints, (2) shifting a portion of the load from the spine to the rest of the trunk by compressing the abdomen, (3) decreasing lumbar lordosis and therefore, mechanical stress on the spine and (4) providing sufficient support to allow relaxation of the muscles of the trunk. But it is doubtful that lumbar braces or corsets significantly decrease movement between lumbar vertebrae. To maintain the stability of the lumbar and lumbosacral spine, abdominal muscles and intrinsic muscles of the back play an important role. When these muscles weaken the lumbar lordosis becomes exaggerated possibly bringing about degenerative changes in the articular processes and approximation of the spinous processes. In severe cases results in the so-called kissing spine which causes low back pain. The pain may be relieved by use of lumbo-sacral corsets or knight braces, which diminish lordosis. However, there has been no scientific report on adequate types of braces, duration of use or muscle weakness resulting from its use as yet. The prupose of this study is to provide a theoretical braces for, planning adequate prevention and early treatment, so that labour loss from retirement or change of job due to low back pain could be minimized, permitting early return to employment and resumption of activities of daily living. In other words, this study concentrates on the indications for use and selection of which will produce optimum results in the treatment of patients with low back pain. The EMG was taken immediately after admission, and after 3 weeks of bed rest accompanied by pelvic traction with or without heating, and also it was taken after 6 weeks of use of brace. The results obtained from this study were as follows; 1. After bed rest the EMG activities were increased in back muscles, such as longissimus dorsi, multifidus and iliocostalis lumborum and in abdominal muscles of internus abdominis while decreased in rectus abdominis. 2. There has been no significant change after use of corset in acute cases while the muscle activities. were increased after use of lumbar corset in chronic cases. 3. Rectus abdominis was most senstively influenced by bed rest or use of brace both in acute and chronic cases. And it was the last to recover probably because it does not contract in ordinary alow walking. 4. Knight brace was considered to be preferable to lumbar corset in acute cases with evidence of weakness in abdominal muscles by EMG. 5. There was no difference between bed rest and use of brace in patients who had radiculopathy with functional difficulties or not.
Abdomen ; Abdominal Muscles ; Activities of Daily Living ; Animals ; Back Muscles ; Bed Rest ; Braces ; Employment ; Heating ; Hot Temperature ; Humans ; Joints ; Lordosis ; Low Back Pain ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; Muscle Weakness ; Muscles ; Paraspinal Muscles ; Radiculopathy ; Rectus Abdominis ; Relaxation ; Retirement ; Spine ; Stress, Mechanical ; Traction ; Walking

No abstract available.
Animals ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus* ; Female ; Humans* ; Ovary*

No abstract available.
Mammography*

No abstract available.
Caroli Disease*

BACKGROUND: Adequate staffing is necessary to meet patient care needs and provide safe, quality nursing care. In November 1999, the Korean government implemented a new staffing policy that differentiates nursing fees for inpatients based on nurse-to-bed ratios. The purpose was to prevent hospitals from delegating nursing care to family members of patients or paid caregivers, and ultimately deteriorating the quality of nursing care services. PURPOSE: To examine nurse staffing levels and related factors including hospital, nursing and medical staff, and financial characteristics. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was employed using two administrative databases, Medical Care Institution Database and Medical Claims Data for May 1-31, 2002. Nurse staffing was graded from 1 to 6, based on grading criteria of nurse-to-bed ratios provided by the policy. The study sample consisted of 42 tertiary and 186 general acute care hospitals. RESULTS: None of tertiary or general hospitals gained the highest nurse staffing of Grade 1 (i.e., less than 2 beds per nurse in tertiary hospitals; less than 2.5 beds per nurse in general hospitals). Two thirds of the general hospitals had the lowest staffing of Grade 6 (i.e., 4 or more beds per nurse in tertiary hospitals; 4.5 or more beds per nurse in general hospitals). Tertiary hospitals were better staffed than general hospitals, and private hospitals had higher staffing levels compared to public hospitals. Large-sized general hospitals located in metropolitan areas had higher staffing than other general hospitals. Occupancy rate was positively related to nurse staffing. A negative relationship between nursing assistant and nurse staffing was found in general hospitals. A greater number of physician specialists were associated with better nurse staffing. CONCLUSIONS: The staffing policy needs to be evaluated and modified to make it more effective in leading hospitals to increase nurse staffing.
Workload/economics ; Program Evaluation ; Personnel Staffing and Scheduling/*economics ; Nursing Staff, Hospital/economics/*supply & distribution ; Logistic Models ; Korea ; Humans ; *Hospital Charges ; *Health Policy ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Bed Occupancy/economics ; Analysis of Variance

PURPOSE: This descriptive correlation study was done to investigate adolescent behavior that promotes health and to identify factors influencing this behavior. METHOD: The participants (702) were a conveniently selected sample of second grade high school students. Data were gathered by self-administered questionnaires and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS program. RESULTS: 1) The score for health-promotion behavior was 2.49 (total possible score = 4). By subcategories, emotional support was the highest (3.02). 2) Of the factors influencing health-promotion behavior, self-efficacy was found to account for 37.5% of the variance, followed by family function, social support, perceived health status and internal health locus of control. Overall, these factors accounted for 50.6% of the variance. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that health-promotion behavior in adolescents was slightly above average. As self-efficacy and family function were identified as major factors in predicting health-promotion behavior, there is a need to consider interventions that will improve self-efficacy and family function.
Adolescent Behavior ; Adolescent* ; Humans ; Internal-External Control ; Statistics as Topic ; Child Health ; Surveys and Questionnaires

A case of dedifferentiated liposarcoma in a fifty-one year old man is presented. The patient received a wide extirpation for a relatively rapidly growing mass in his right gluteal region. The mass was multinodular and consisted of two clearly distinct elements; well differentiated liposarcoma and non-lipogenic spindle cell sarcoma (fibrosarcoma). This is first proven case of dedifferentiated liposarcoma of the soft tissue in Korean literature, and its histogenesis is discussed along the dedifferentiation-redifferentiation pathway of fibrohistiocytic differentiation.
Male ; Humans

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of hand acupuncture on reduction of headache. METHOD: This study used a quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test design. 45 middle school girls who complained of headache were selected as subjects. The study lasted from November 2002 to June 2003. There were 22 girls in the experimental group while 23 girls were control group; convenience assignment was used. The two groups were homogeneous on characteristics. The experimental group received hand acupuncture. The treatment was to puncture corresponding points (A33, B27, M1, I2) on both the palm and the back of a hand with disposable acupuncture needles, and then remove them after a 20-30 minutes recess during which the subjects reclined on a bed. The data were analyzed using the SPSS PC with Fisher's Exact X(2)-test, and Mann Whitney U-test. RESULT: The results of this study were as follows: 1) In the experimental group, objective pain decreased after hand acupuncture (U= -2.51, p= .01). As for the objective pain degree, a significant reduction in voice change was observed in the experimental groups (U= -2.35, p= .02). Facial expressional changes were observed (U= -1.87, p= .06) and perspiration degree (U= -.99, p= .32) has reduced. However, these differences were not statistically significant between the experimental and control group. 2) Subjective pain degree decreased after hand acupuncture in the experimental as compared to the control group. 3) No statistical significant difference in comfort (U= -.29, p= .78) or distress (U= -1.51, p= .13) between experimental and control group were found. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that hand acupuncture is an effective method for reducing headache. Therefore, hand acupuncture can be considered as an independent nursing intervention for headache reduction.
Acupuncture* ; Facial Expression ; Female ; Hand* ; Headache* ; Humans ; Needles ; Nursing ; Punctures ; Voice ; Child Health

The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge and attitude about oral contraceptive between Korean and Japanese university students in order to provide better sex education programs and direcrion.Korean subjects of this study were 337 university students in M city, during the period from April 1 to April 20, 2001 and Japanese subjects 245, during the period from June to August, 2001. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficients with SPSS package. The results from this study were summarized as follows :1. The mean age of Koreans and Japanese students was 21.0+/-3.2 and 19.6+/-3.2 years old. The number of Japaneses youths having the parter with sexual intercourse was larger than that of Korean university students. 2. Comparison of knowledge and attitude about oral contraceptives between Korean and Japanese university students ;1) Comparison of sexual differences : Oral contraceptives related knowledge of Korean university students marked 55.7+/-7.5 of male students and 56.7+/-6.2 of females with a range of 15 to 75. The level of female students' knowledge was higher than that of male's but there is not statistically a significant difference (p= .080). Oral contraceptives related attitude of Korean university students marked 81.1+/-12.2 of male students and 76.9+/-10.3 of female's with a range of 24 to 120. The level of male students' attitude was higher than that of female's and there is statistically a significant difference(p= .002). Oral contraceptives related knowledge of Japanese university students marked 55.3+/-6.7 of male students and 57.0+/-6.3 of female students. The level of female students' knowledge was higher than that of male's but there is not statistically a significant difference (p= .159). Oral contraceptives related attitude of Japanese university students marked 80.3+/-10.1 of male students and 80.4+/-9.9 of female students. The level of female students' attitude was higher than that of male's and there is not statistically a significant difference(p= .928).2) Comparison between the country : Oral conceptives related knowledge of Korean university students marked 56.2+/-6.8 and 56.7+/-6.4 of Japanese university students with a range of 15 to 75. The level of Japanese university students' knowledge was higher than that of Korean's but there is not statistically a significant difference(p= .361). Oral conceptives related attitude of Korean university students marked 78.9+/-11.4 and 80.4+/-9.9 of Japaneses with a range of 24 to 120. The level of Japanese university studentss' attitude was higher than that of Korean's and there is not statistically a significant difference(p= .100). 2. Wanted age of oral contraceptives taking medicine and age was correlated positively (r=.178, p=.004) and total knowledge score of oral contraceptives and total attitude score were correlated positively(r=.467 p= .000) in Korean university students. Wanted age of oral contraceptives taking medicine and age was correlated positively (r=.289, p=.004), age and total attitude score were correlated positively(r=.196 p=.002) and total knowledge score of oral contraceptives and total attitude score were correlated positively (r=.671 p=.000) in Japanese university students. 3. Korean university students lifted side effect by the greatest factors in investigation about leading person that disturb work oral contraceptive, and the following appeared by knowledge insufficiency, sexual feeling inflammation worry, social prejudice, sexual morality decline, supernumerary prescription being not right, other person reverse and economical burden. Japanese university students can know that it is appearing by side effect, supernumerary prescription being not right, knowledge insufficiency, sexual feeling inflammation worry, economical burden, social prejudice, sexual morality decline and other person reverse. Think that this is result by dissimilar health medical system and cultural difference between two countries.
Adolescent ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Coitus ; Contraceptive Agents ; Contraceptives, Oral ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Male ; Morals ; Prejudice ; Prescriptions ; Sex Education

This study was designed to identify the relationship between perceived pain, family support and quality of life in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the theoretical understanding of the relationship of these three variables and eventually to more effective adaptation of patients to their situation. The subjects for this study were the 68 patients who had been diagnosed with ankylsing spondylitis and registered as out-patients in the Rheumatism Center of one university hospital in Seoul. The data were collected during the period from October 10, 1997 to December 20, 1997. Pain was measured using the perceived pain scale(VAS: Visual Analog Scale)developed by Calin(1993), family support using the scale developed by Kang Hyun Suk(1985) and Quality of Life using the scale developed by Ro Yoo Ja(1988). The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Frequencies, Pearson correlation, using the SPSS program. The results of this can be summarized as followings. 1. The mean perceived pain score was 5.13 with a range of 2 to 10. 2. The mean perceived family support score was 41.08+/-5.34 with a range of 20 to 50. 3. The mean perceived quality of life score was 134.07+/-19.82 with a range of 83 to 176. 4. Significant statistical difference was found between family support and quality of life(r=.331, p<0.001). A significant negative statistical difference was found between the family support and quality of life and pain(r=-.250, p<0.05, r=-.460, p<0.001). 5. General characteristics related to pain were exercise(t=4.72, p<0.0006). 6. General characteristics related to family support were age(F=2.65, p<0.0246), educational level(F=2.84, p<0.0282) and exercise(t=3.24, p<0.0452). 7. General characteristics related to quality of life were educational level(F=3.03, p<0.0392) and exercise(t=3.12, p<0.0465). It was found that the higher the level perceived pain, the lower the degree of perceived family support and the quality of life. It was also fund that the higher the degree of perceived family support the higher the degree of perceived quality of life. Accordingly, the conclusions from this study are that reduction of pain is achieved through the family support. Therefore, it is proposed that family support is an appropriate nursing intervention to improve the quality of life of patients with anklosing spondylitis.
Financial Management ; Humans ; Nursing ; Outpatients ; Quality of Life ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Seoul ; Spondylitis ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing*