PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the correlation between the feeling of powerlessness, social support and life satisfaction in the elderly. METHODS: The subjects were 158 old people aged over 65 who were attending one of one college and three settlement houses for senior citizens located in B city. RESULTS: The relationship between the feeling of powerlessness and life satisfaction was in a moderate negative correlation with each other (r=-.433, p=.000). The relationship between social support and life satisfaction was in a moderate positive correlation with each other (r=.410, p=.000). It was found that the higher social support was, the higher life satisfaction was. There was remarkable difference in the form of family (F=2.69, p=.023), the form of residence (F=5.29, p=.002), whether to belong to a group (F=2.26, p=.025). CONCLUSION: For the reasons stated above, as the feeling of powerlessness is lower and social support is higher, life satisfaction is higher. The results clearly show that in order to improve life satisfaction of the elderly, we need to ease their feeling of powerlessness and enhance social support to them. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a nursing intervention program to reduce powerlessness and to improve social support for the elderly.
Aged* ; Humans ; Nursing

No abstract available.
Melanoma* ; Radiotherapy*

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of a nursing intervention using sensory stimulation in dysphagic patients. Quasi-experimental with a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest desigr, was used. 15 patients of each group were assigned for this study, who were hospitalized in the oriental medicine hospital of K. University. Specific stimulation plans were devised based on a dysfunctional area of the subjects. For each modality. subjects were systematically stimulated for 30 minutes. in the experimental group prim to each meal and 3 times per day for a week. The data were analyzed by SPSS PC program using chi2test. Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and Mann-Whitney U test. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The tongue contra! score of the experimental group is greater than that of the control group(u=52.0. p= .007). 2. The score of chewing ability. lip control swallowing ability of the experimental group is greater than that of the control group But no difference is statistically seen between the experimental group and control group. Therefore, this study shows that sensory stimulation using icing. quick stretch. etc., was effective in improving oropharyngeal function in patients with dysphagia.
Deglutition ; Deglutition Disorders ; Eating* ; Humans ; Lip ; Mastication ; Meals ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Nursing ; Stroke* ; Tongue

PURPOSE: To evaluate ultrasonographic findings and usefulness in the diagnosis of breast diseases during pregnancy and lactati ng period. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The authors evaluated the ultrasonographic findings of 18 breast diseases during pregnancy and lactation retrospectively. The ultrasonographic examinations were performed with linear-array 5 MHz transducer (ATL). Final diagnoses were obtained by the excisional biopsy, fine needle aspiration and clinical follow-up. RESULTS: Total 18 cases of breast diseases were consisted of 8 cases of galactocele, 4 cases of fibroadenoma, 3 cases of axillary accessory breast, 2 cases of lactating adenoma, and I case of phylloides tumor. The ultrasonographic findings of the above breast diseases were valuable in the diagnosis and therapeutic planning. CONCLUSION: Ultrasonography is the initial and useful method of diagnosing breast diseases during pregnancy and lactating period.
Adenoma ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Breast Diseases* ; Breast* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Fibroadenoma ; Follow-Up Studies ; Lactation ; Pregnancy* ; Retrospective Studies ; Transducers ; Ultrasonography

Since the placenta is an organ composed of blood vessels, it is not surprising that its primary neoplasm would be a vascular tumor. Placental tumors, primary or secondary, have been known to interfere with placental function. Chorioangioma(primary tumor of the placenta), which is the most common of them, occurs with an incidence for clinically significant ranges from 1~2.8:10000 births. These tumors are benign and are not usually associated with clinical sequelae unless they are larger than 5cm in long diameter. About one third of the large chorioangiomas may be associated with the maternal and fetal complications. For diagnosis of these lesions, the ultrasonography was used. If the chorioangioma is suspected, color doppler study is informative to confirm the presence of the vascular channels. We reviewed ultrasonograms and clinical records of seven patients who had been diagnosed as placental chrioangioma. The appropriate diagnostic tests and treatment can then be initiated in order to prolong gestation and decrease fetal mortality and morbidity.
Blood Vessels ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Fetal Mortality ; Hemangioma* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Parturition ; Placenta* ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Diagnosis* ; Ultrasonography

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Asthma* ; Child* ; Humans

BACKGROUND: In recent years, lymphocyte subset analysis in peripheral blood is widely performed using erythrocytes-lysed whole blood and two color immunofluorescence/flow cytometry method. Use of fresh blood drawn within 6 hours of staining is recommended, and some patients have to revisit the hospital for blood collection. We tested whether 24 hours-refrigerated/stored whose blood can be used for lymphocyte subset analysis. METHODS: Twenty consecutive blood samples from patients (including nine HIV positive patients) collected in EDTA-vacutainer were tested: 1) on the day of sampling using fresh blood kept at room temperature for up to 6 hours until staining (as recommended by the manufacturer) and 2) on the following day using the same tube of blood refrigerated for 24 hours after the first staining. Two colon immunofluorescenc staining was done using Simultest(TM) IMK-Lymphocyte kit (Beckon Dickinson, U.S.A.) and flow cytometric analysis was performed using FACScan and SimulSET(TM) software (Becton Dickinson, U.S.A.). Results of alive kinds of Lymphocyte subsets (CD3+, CDl9+, CD3+CD4+CD3+CD8+, CD3-CDl6+ and/or CD56+) on day 1 and day 2 were compared by pained-t test and Wilcoxon signed rank test. RESULTS: There was no significant change of values for all of the lymphocyte subsets except CD3+CD8+suppressor/cytotoxic (S/C) T cells. There was a slight but statistically significant change in S/C T cells (39.9%-->41.8%: 1.9%, p=0.008) after 24 hours of refrigeration, and this change was observed mainly in HIV-positive patient group. However, there was no significant change in the absolute count of helper/inducer T cells or CD4/CD8 ratio, and the change of S/C T cells in these patients was not considered to be of clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The difference in the values of lymphocyte subsets between fresh blood and 24 hours-refrigerated blood was negligible and it is concluded that 24 hours-stored blood samples can be used for lymphocyte subset analysis for clinical purposes.
Colon ; HIV ; Humans ; Lymphocyte Subsets* ; Lymphocytes* ; Refrigeration ; T-Lymphocytes

OBJECTS: Thls study was designed to assess muscle tensions while working at a YDT workstation with surface electromyography (SEMG). METHODS: Variables texted were desk height, monitor positon on the desk, distance from edge of the desk to the keyboard. Eleven female volunteers working in the tele-com munication company were seated at an ergonomically adjusted workstation. They were assigned to a task of typing for 5 minutes and were given a 10 minutes resting with hands in their lap. For the initial experiment, the desk height was fixed to standard desk height(65.0 cm) recommended by ANSI and latter adjusted to a higher desk height (72.8 cm) for this study such that the subjects experienced slight elevation of shoulders. The monitor position initially at the center on the desk and latter left site of the desk (45o from monitorneck axles). The keyboard was positioned to an optimal distance (15 cm from the desk edge) and an abnormal distance (30 cm). Five muscle groups (paraspinal muscles, upper trapezium muscle, supraspinatus muscle, infraspinatus muscle, and rhomboid muscle) were selected for the study. The data of SEMG were analyzed by 2x2x2xs mixed factorial design. RESULTS: The results were as follows: 1. SEMG activity recorded from the paraspinal muscles were significantly higher when the angle of the monitor adjusted to 45 degree from the center of the desk.. 2. SEMG activity recorded from the upper trapezius/supraspinatus/infraspinatus muscles were significantly higher when the hight of the desk was elevated from the recommended height.3. SEMG activity from the rhomboid muscle showed no significantiy difference in all test conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The results of thls study confirm that the helght of a VDT workstation and the angle of the monitor are risk factors of upper extremity cumulative trauma disorders. Also SEMG would be useful for measuring muscle activities during workstation assessment.
Cumulative Trauma Disorders ; Electromyography* ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Muscles ; Paraspinal Muscles ; Risk Factors ; Shoulder ; Upper Extremity ; Volunteers

The crystalline surface layer protein (SLP) and a 28-32 kDa antigen of Rickettsia typhi were known as strong immunogens. We previously reported a cloning and sequence analysis of the SLP gene of R. typhi (slpT) and showed that the open reading frame of this gene encodes both the SLP and a 32-kDa protein. Our study also showed that a 48-kDa protein reacted strongly with polyclonal antiserum of a patient with murine typhus. In this study, we produced three recombinant proteins (SLP, 32-kDa, and 48-kDa protein) in E. coli as fusion proteins with maltose binding proteins. The reactivity of these proteins with patients' sera was investigated.
Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; Crystallins ; Humans ; Maltose-Binding Proteins ; Open Reading Frames ; Recombinant Proteins ; Rickettsia typhi* ; Rickettsia* ; Sequence Analysis ; Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne