PURPOSE: Lentinus edodes is used in both foods and drugs, and is also known to be an antioxidant agent. Some investigators have noted that renal scarring following pyelonephritis is closely related to inflammation or free oxygen radicals, rather than to direct injury due to bacterial infection. The efficiency of the antioxidant agent, lentinus edodes, in preventing the renal scarring caused by experimental pyelonephritis was evaluated in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty eight male Sprague Dawley rats (n=28) were injected into both renal parenchyma with 0.1ml of a solution containing Escherichia coli (10(8)/ml). The control group, consisting of 4 rats, received an injection of isotonic saline instead of the bacterial solution. Three days after surgery, the animals were given the following treatments: in the pyelonephritis group, 7 rats received isotonic saline for 5 days; in the antibiotics treatment group, 6 rats were treated with an antibiotic only, ciprofloxacin, for 5 days. In the lentinus edodes treatment group, 5 rats were treated with lentinus edodes only. In the combined group, 6 rats received both lentinus edodes and ciprofloxacin. The kidneys were harvested 6 weeks after infection, and histopathologically examined for renal scarring. RESULTS: Delayed treatment with antibiotics-only or lentinus edodes-only had no effect on the scarring compared with the untreated controls. However, the addition of lentinus edodes to the delayed antibiotic therapy significantly inhibited the renal scarring compared with the pyelonephritis, antibiotic-only treated and the lentinus edodes-only treated groups (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The administration of lentinus edodes in combination with antibiotics significantly reduced the renal scar formation in pyelonephritis.
Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacterial Infections ; Cicatrix* ; Ciprofloxacin ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Kidney ; Lentinula* ; Male ; Pyelonephritis* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Research Personnel ; Shiitake Mushrooms*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of sensory stimulation therapy on the physical growth and behaviors of infants accommodated at two Korean orphanages. METHOD: Thirty-eight full term infants were assigned to a control (n=20) or an experimental (n=18) group within 14 days of birth. In addition to routine orphanage care, infants in the experimental group received 15 minutes of massage twice a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. RESULT: Compared to the control group, the experimental group had gained significantly more weight and had larger increases in length and head circumference after the 4-week intervention period. In addition, the experimental group showed significantly better behavioral performance in the scoring of habituation (e.g., light), motor (e.g., motor maturity), and state range (e.g., peak of excitement, rapidity of build-up) behavioral clusters of Brazelton's NBAS. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate that sensory stimulation therapy may facilitate the physical and behavioral development of the newborn infants placed in the orphanages.
Head ; Humans ; Infant* ; Infant, Newborn ; Massage ; Orphanages ; Parturition ; Child Health

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the conceptual structure of stressors experienced by nursing students during clinical practice. METHODS: Ten men and 10 women nursing college students were interviewed. The results were 208 ideas. By synthesizing and editing these ideas, the final statement was trimmed down to 39 questions. The next step was to have the participants classify these 39 final questions. They were asked to rate stress scores using a five-point scale. Through multidimensional scaling analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis yielded dimensions and clusters. RESULTS: Results of the study showed 2 dimensions which were classified as 'interpersonal relationship-practice system' and 'identity-practice environment'. It also yielded 8 clusters which were classified as 'role confusion', 'gender discrimination', 'attitudes of medical personnel and patients', 'comparison between fellow students', 'difference between theory and practice', 'disestablishing the role of practice guide', 'interference with training', and 'problems of the practice environment'. Further, stress factors and stress levels were differentiated depending on the gender of the student. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that educators who are developing clinical practice programs and clinical practitioners should consider stressors during clinical practice and the educational implications to nursing students.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Nursing ; Students, Nursing*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to survey health requirements of middle-aged women and their families and to provide guidelines for developing nursing interventions by describing the process of family health maintenance experienced by middle-aged women and its conceptual system. METHODS: To get saturated data, each of four researchers conducted two or three times of in-depth interview with eight middle-aged women aged between 40-64 years old and living in Seoul and Chuncheon from the 10th to the 30th of October 2004 and each interview was continued one or two hours. The Grounded theory adopted by Strauss & Corbin (1998) is a substantive theory that can explain the experiencing process of middle-aged women. RESULTS: We found that the casual condition of family health maintaining by middle-aged women was "confidence of health belief", and "pouring by body moving" was found to be its phenomenon. A textual condition that might respond to the phenomenon was "fatal roles acceptance", and intervening conditions that promote their family health were "retracing" and "gathering health information". These intervening conditions impacted middle-aged women's confidence in family health and led them to take actions/interactions such as "being a model of health", "adapting to circumstances", "do-it-myself", "taking-care" "harmonious mind" and "the pursuit of cleanness". These actions/interactions produced results such as "being stronger", "being unmanageable" and "being fruitful". CONCLUSIONS: Health confidence and practical health behaviors were observed in the process that the middle-aged female participants experienced unmanageable circumstances but they accepted their roles and responsibilities and recognized that they must be get stronger. The behaviors of health-together-with were divided into enthusiastic type, adaptation type and self-sacrificing type. Therefore middle-aged woman with the understanding of family health maintaining process as well as the theoretical system and practical principals needs to implement the intervention in acceptable level of family health process of preventing psychological and physical problems.
Family Health* ; Female ; Gangwon-do ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Nursing ; Seoul

PURPOSE: This study was to confirm the effect of acupressure on the emesis control and the weight change among pediatric cancer patients receiving anti-cancer chemotherapy. METHOD: Forty pediatric cancer patients, receiving the induction stage of chemotherapy with MTX and vincristine, were divided into control(n=20) and the intervention group(n=20). Both groups received regular anti-emesis medication, but the intervention group was added acupressure maneuver for 5 minutes on P6 point for 3 times a day for 5days: before chemotherapy, lunch and dinner by investigator during the hospitalization and by mother at home. The instruments for this study were Rhode's(1986) Index of nausea, vomiting and retching(INVR), Cas electric scale and pamphlet developed by researcher. RESULT: Significant differences in the degree of nausea and vomiting were observed between the control and the intervention group as measured by INVR(t=4.73; p=.01). Repeated measures ANOVA also shows that the group effect was significant(F=22.39, P=.01) as was the time effect(F=380.35, P=.01). The group by time interaction was also significant(F=5.27, P=.01). Acupressure maneuver was apparently effective in reducing the degree of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. There were also statistically significant weight loss noted in the control group than the intervention group(t=5.42, p=.01). CONCLUSION: Acupressure on P6 point shows an effective adjunct maneuver in reducing the degree of nausea and vomiting and conserving the weight in pediatric cancer patients. Therefore, it is proposed that acupressure should be applied as supportive nursing intervention strategies to relieve chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting and to prevent weight loss in pediatric cancer patients.
Acupressure* ; Drug Therapy* ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Lunch ; Meals ; Mothers ; Nausea ; Nursing ; Pamphlets ; Research Personnel ; Vincristine ; Vomiting ; Weight Loss ; Child Health

No abstract available.
Orthopedics*

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate association between presence of time preference of headache attack and social jetlag and circadian preference in patients with migraine with or without aura. METHODS: A total of 50 patients of migraine with or without aura who visited for the first time at a single tertiary medical center were examined and interviewed about their sleep pattern on weekdays and weekends and whether they have time preference of headache attack during a day or not. Frequency of headache and measurement for disability of headache such as six-item Headache Impact Test and other sleep profiles such as sleep duration, sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and insomnia severity were obtained by a booklet of questionnaire. RESULTS: In this pilot study, the time preference of migraine attack during a day was present in 42% among the participants. In the cross-sectional analysis, the group of presence of time preference of attack showed earlier circadian preference (1:36 am±282 min vs. 4:24 am±186 min, p=0.02) and lower social jetlag than the other group (0.4±0.8 hour vs. 1.4±2.2 hour, p=0.04). Other demographic characteristics and frequency and severity of headache was comparable between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Considering an individual circadian preference might be a strategy in integrated management of migraine.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Epilepsy ; Headache ; Humans ; Migraine Disorders ; Pamphlets ; Pilot Projects ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the components and nature of happiness in middle-aged women in Korea. METHODS: Thirty middle-aged women living in metropolitan Seoul and Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces agreed to participate in this study. The data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants in one-on-one settings. The data were analyzed qualitative using Colaizzi's method of phenomenology. RESULTS: The three theme clusters were extracted from the raw data, along with 13 themes and 138 meaningful sentences and phrases. The three happiness theme clusters in middle-aged women were “live healthy for stability,” “rule one's mind for harmony,” and “activate hopes for self-esteem.” The first theme cluster included healthy life, economic stability, physical youth, and positive thought. The second theme cluster included that harmonious family, ruling of mind, my position as invisible person in social relationships, and precious relationships to support. The last theme included the center of one's life is oneself, a sense of accomplishment, self-improvement, recognition of one's worth and rest for one self. The three theme clusters were associated with the existence, relatedness, and growth (ERG) of ERG areas, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the core components of happiness in middle-aged women are to live healthy and mind-ruled and activate hope. The nature of happiness is egocentric stability in middle-aged women. The results suggest that theme clusters might be used to develop a scale for measuring happiness in middle-aged women. This will be helpful to assess the psychosocial status of middle-aged women in Korea.
Adolescent ; Female ; Gyeonggi-do ; Happiness ; Hope ; Humans ; Korea ; Methods ; Middle Aged ; Qualitative Research ; Seoul

Purpose: This study aimed at developing a happiness assessment scale for middle-aged women (HAS-MW) in Korea. Methods: Preliminary items for the scale were drafted from the results of literature review and personal interviews and open-ended questions with women in the community. The interviews were based on the theory of existence, relatedness, and growth. After validating a preliminary scale, we analyzed the validity and reliability of the new scale items, and model fit. We surveyed 600 women aged 40 years to 64 years for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Valid data were divided into 352 for EFA and 174 for CFA by multiplies of number 1 to 3. Results: Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we extracted four primary factors—self-value, positive thinking, self-care, and family relationship—and with a total of 24 items for HAS-MW. The fit of the final model was evaluated as good showing χ2/df = 2.10, goodness of fit index = .80, comparative fit index = .85, root mean square error of approximation = .08, standardized root mean residual = .05. The HAS-MW had a significant positive correlation with the Oxford Happiness scale and showed a significant negative correlation with the Hwa-Byeong Scale. Cronbach's α for the new scale was .91, and the Spearman-Brown half coefficient was .93. The new scale used a five-point Likert scale with higher scores indicating greater happiness. Conclusion The HAS-MW is a reliable and valid one. It can be used to measure the level of happiness for middle-aged women. In addition, it might be applied to find low women and to evaluate the effect of intervention program related to happiness in woman of middle age.

Purpose: This study aimed at developing a happiness assessment scale for middle-aged women (HAS-MW) in Korea. Methods: Preliminary items for the scale were drafted from the results of literature review and personal interviews and open-ended questions with women in the community. The interviews were based on the theory of existence, relatedness, and growth. After validating a preliminary scale, we analyzed the validity and reliability of the new scale items, and model fit. We surveyed 600 women aged 40 years to 64 years for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Valid data were divided into 352 for EFA and 174 for CFA by multiplies of number 1 to 3. Results: Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we extracted four primary factors—self-value, positive thinking, self-care, and family relationship—and with a total of 24 items for HAS-MW. The fit of the final model was evaluated as good showing χ2/df = 2.10, goodness of fit index = .80, comparative fit index = .85, root mean square error of approximation = .08, standardized root mean residual = .05. The HAS-MW had a significant positive correlation with the Oxford Happiness scale and showed a significant negative correlation with the Hwa-Byeong Scale. Cronbach's α for the new scale was .91, and the Spearman-Brown half coefficient was .93. The new scale used a five-point Likert scale with higher scores indicating greater happiness. Conclusion The HAS-MW is a reliable and valid one. It can be used to measure the level of happiness for middle-aged women. In addition, it might be applied to find low women and to evaluate the effect of intervention program related to happiness in woman of middle age.