OBJECTIVES: Homocysteine has been associated with cognitive impairment and various psychiatric symptoms. This study was designed to examine the relationship exists between plasma homocysteine concentration and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia(BPSD). METHODS: 41 subjects with dementia of Alzheimer's type were included in this study. We carried out history taking, physical examination, and cognitive assessment for the diagnosis of dementia of Alzheimer's type based on DSM-IV. We scored the Mini Mental State Examination(MMSE), Global Deterioration Scale(GDS), Clinical Dementia Rating(CDR), and the Korean Neuropsychiatric Inventory(K-NPI). We also measured levels of homocysteine, folate, and vitamin B12 in the plasma. RESULTS: We found statistically significant positive correlations between homocysteine concentration with NPI total score, and with scores of several sub-domains such as delusion, agitation/aggression, depression/dysphoria, and elation/euphoria. No significant correlation existed between homocysteine levels and scores of MMSE, GDS, and CDR. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that plasma homocysteine levels are associated with BPSD. Further research is necessary to identify pathophysiologic mechanisms underlying these relationships.
Delusions ; Dementia* ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Folic Acid ; Homocysteine* ; Humans ; Physical Examination ; Plasma ; Vitamin B 12

Pancreatic islet cell adenoma is a benign tumor of pancreatic beta-cell and a rare cause of hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia in children. The authors experienced a case of pancreatic islet cell adenoma(Insulinoma)in a 11 year and 8 month old male who had frequent loss of consciousness and seizure. Enucleation was done after localization of tumor by selective celiac artery angiography and abdominal computed tomography. Diagnosis was confirmed by histologic findings as pancreatic-adenoma, gyriform growth pattern. A brief review of related literature was made.
Adenoma* ; Angiography ; Celiac Artery ; Child ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hyperinsulinism ; Hypoglycemia ; Infant ; Islets of Langerhans ; Male ; Seizures ; Unconsciousness

No abstract available.
Diatomaceous Earth* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Pneumoconiosis*

PURPOSE: This study is to conduct a comparative analysis of influencing factors on the experience of mammography targeting ordinary women and outpatients. METHODS: The target subjects were 116 ordinary women and 105 outpatients, and the study period was around 8 months from May to December. RESULTS: When mammography experience was examined, it was found that mammography experience was conducted in 44.8% of ordinary women and 59.0% of outpatients, but this study showed that there was a statistically significant difference. When the relation between the characteristics of the targeted objects and the experience of mammography was examined, it was found that ordinary women have a lot of experience when they have regular exercises and a high health belief. On the other hand, in case of outpatients. mammography experience was more frequent in the older group. In addition, outpatients had experiences in breast-related diseases or high self-efficacy. It was also found that the influencing factors on the experience of mammography were a high health belief in case of ordinary women, and old ages and high self-efficacy in case of outpatients. CONCLUSIONS: In order to increase the rate of conducting early detection behavior for mammography, it is needed to conduct an intervention that increases health belief for ordinary women, while it is effective to conduct an intervention that increases self-efficacy for outpatients.
Breast Neoplasms ; Exercise ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Mammography* ; Outpatients*

No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Lung*

PURPOSE: This study was to examine the relationships between knowledge with same sub-areas of education needs and adherence to self-management guidelines, and to investigate the factors that influence adherence. METHOD: One hundred eleven patients with terminal stage of kidney failure were conveniently selected from a university hospital in Incheon. RESULTS: The level of knowledge was high, with a mean score of 15.25. The level of adherence to self-management guidelines was low, with a mean score of 64.53. The patients' education needs were high. The significant influencing factors on adherence were gender, educational level, and two sub-areas of knowledge, 'exercise and daily life' and 'follow-up care and treatment'. CONCLUSION: Relationships between knowledge, education needs, and adherence should be further examined before developing and implementing intervention programs for adherence to treatment guideline in hemodialysis patients.
Humans ; Renal Dialysis ; Renal Insufficiency ; Self Care

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effects of exercise on physiological, physical and psychological functions of the frail elderly. METHODS: The research design was a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Data were collected from September 9 to October 10, 2009. The subjects were 56 frail elders who agreed to participate in this study and each subject was randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n=28) or the control group (n=28). The exercise program was provided to each subject in the experimental group twice in a week for 6 weeks. Data were analyzed with frequency, chi2-test, Kolmogorov-Smirnor test and independent t-test using SPSS/WIN 12.0. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in psychological functions in the experimental group compared to the control group (t=1.726, p=.045). CONCLUSION: The exercise program showed the effects to improve the psychological functions of the frail elderly with chronic disease. In recommendation, this exercise program could be utilized as a health promoting program for the frail elderly.
Aged ; Chronic Disease ; Depression ; Frail Elderly ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Research Design

PURPOSE: Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that rhinitis and asthma commonly coexist in the same patients and that a temporary relationship exists between the onset of rhinitis and asthma, with rhinitis frequently preceeding the development of asthma. Despite the compelling evidence that rhinitis has a remarkable impact on asthma, it has been controversial how the presence of rhinitis causes asthma to be worsen. We studied to know the effect of coexistence of allergic rhinitis on lower airway eosinophilic inflammation in mild persistent bronchial asthma. METHODS: A total of 129 mild persistent asthmatics were enrolled and divided into three different groups as follows: 37 cases with asthma only; 40 cases with mild allergic rhinitis; and 52 cases with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis. Methacholine challage test and sputum induction were performed and sputum ECP, sputum eosinophils and bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) were compared in each group. RESULTS: In mild asthmatics with moderate to severe allergic rhinitis, the BHR to methacholine increased compared to those with mild or no allergic rhinitis. Eosinophils and ECP in induced sputum were significantly higher in more severe allergic rhinitis groups. We also found a significant correlation between BR index and sputum eosinophils. (gamma=0.578, P< 0.05) CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that the severity of allergic rhinitis was related to lower airway eosinophilic inflammation and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in mild persistent asthmatics with allergic rhinitis.
Asthma* ; Child ; Eosinophils* ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans ; Inflammation* ; Methacholine Chloride ; Respiratory System ; Rhinitis* ; Sputum

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to analyze the intervention studies for married immigrant women. METHODS: Based on inclusion criteria, 45 articles published from 2006 to 2011 were reviewed and analyzed. RESULTS: Among the total amount of studies, 77.8% have been conducted since 2009; and 46.7% of them were for a master's thesis, 11.1% were for a doctoral thesis, and 42.2% were journal articles. Most of them were quantitative research (77.8%) and 71.1% were conducted in urban areas. The most frequently conducted intervention was art therapy (35.6%), whereas 6.7% was health education. In total, 104 outcome indicators were used with 57 (54.8%) in the mental health domain, 29 (27.9%) in the social health domain, and 18 (17.3%) in the physical health domain. The most commonly used outcome indicator was self-esteem (23.2%), and the next, in the order of frequency, included self-efficacy (23.2%), acculturative stress (21.4%), and depression (10.7%). CONCLUSION: Most intervention studies were conducted to support the sociocultural adaptation of married immigrant women, while few intervention studies were conducted to support the health of married immigrant women. To promote the health and quality of life of married immigrant women, many health related intervention programs should be undertaken.
Art Therapy ; Depression ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Female ; Health Education ; Humans ; Clinical Trial ; Mental Health ; Quality of Life

Meniscal tear of knee joint has been known to be one of the most important risk factors to cause knee osteoarthritis. For meniscal tear, in vascular peripheral zone meniscal repair for healing is recommended to preserve knee articular cartilage and in avascular central zone it is recommended partial meniscectomy that preserves intact meniscal rim as much as possible. Recent strategy for meniscal lesion has been established from meniscectomy to meniscal repair as the role of meniscus for preserving articular cartilage has proved to be critical. Even after total meniscectomy, the efforts to preserve meniscus do not decrease and in these cases, meniscal allograft is transplanted to meniscal deficient knee. Although there are so many methods to preserve meniscus, the clinical results are doubtful about cartilage degeneration due to low regenerative potency of meniscus. Nowdays, tissue engineering is reported to be promising treatment modality for not only stimulating lesion healing but also replacing entire meniscus by tissue engineered prosthesis. The authors introduced recent tissue engineering methods for healing torn meniscus and total replacement of meniscus with respect to substituting cells and stimulating growth factors, scaffolds for meniscal regeneration, tissue engineering for meniscal healing, meniscal prosthesis.
Cartilage ; Cartilage, Articular ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Knee ; Knee Joint ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; Prostheses and Implants ; Regeneration ; Risk Factors ; Tissue Engineering ; Transplantation, Homologous ; Transplants