Purpose: This study aimed to examine the impacts of alternative clinical practice on nursing professionalism in nursing students during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was used for this study. Data were collected from 178 junior and senior nursing students from December 28, 2022 to January 6, 2023. The nursing students’ characteristics, nursing professionalism, clinical competence, extent of alternative clinical practice, and satisfaction with alternative clinical practice were self-reported through an on-line survey. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine the impacts of alternative clinical practice on nursing professionalism along with the confounding variables. Results: The nursing students reported that they performed alternative clinical practice for more than half of their clinical practice throughout 2022. The extent of alternative clinical practice (β=-.11, p=.028), satisfaction with content (β=.14, p=.045), and evaluation of the alternative clinical practice (β=.17, p=.007) were found to have impacted nursing professionalism. These variables explained 55.6% of the variance in nursing professionalism. Conclusion The study results suggest that the alternative nursing practice could impact nursing students’ professionalism. However, it would be possible to develop nursing professionalism if the students’ satisfaction with the alternative clinical practice were increased. Nurse educators need to improve the content and evaluation methods of alternative clinical practice to promote nursing professionalism during the implementation of such alternative clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: Placental oxidative stress is known to be a factor that contributes to pregnancy failure. The aim of this study was to determine whether selenium could induce antioxidant gene expression and regulate invasive activity and mitochondrial activity in trophoblasts, which are a major cell type of the placenta. METHODS: To understand the effects of selenium on trophoblast cells exposed to hypoxia, the viability and invasive activity of trophoblasts were analyzed. The expression of antioxidant enzymes was assessed by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. In addition, the effects of selenium treatment on mitochondrial activity were evaluated in terms of adenosine triphosphate production, mitochondrial membrane potential, and reactive oxygen species levels. RESULTS: Selenium showed positive effects on the viability and migration activity of trophoblast cells when exposed to hypoxia. Interestingly, the increased heme oxygenase 1 expression under hypoxic conditions was decreased by selenium treatment, whereas superoxide dismutase expression was increased in trophoblast cells by selenium treatment for 72 hours, regardless of hypoxia. Selenium-treated trophoblast cells showed increased mitochondrial membrane potential and decreased reactive oxygen species levels under hypoxic conditions for 72 hours. CONCLUSION: These results will be used as basic data for understanding the mechanism of how trophoblast cells respond to oxidative stress and how selenium promotes the upregulation of related genes and improves the survival rate and invasive ability of trophoblasts through regulating mitochondrial activity. These results suggest that selenium may be used in reproductive medicine for purposes including infertility treatment.
Adenosine Triphosphate ; Anoxia ; Antioxidants ; Gene Expression ; Heme Oxygenase-1 ; Infertility ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Mitochondria ; Oxidative Stress ; Placenta ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Pregnancy ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; Reproductive Medicine ; Selenium* ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Survival Rate ; Trophoblasts* ; Up-Regulation

Acute mountain sickness (AMS) occurs commonly in hikers who are rapidly exposed to high altitude environments. Despite the numerous reports of AMS, few studies have reported pallidal lesions associated with altitude sickness. A previously healthy 49-yr-old Korean patient, after ascent to 4,700 m, suffered symptoms consistent with AMS. After returning home, the patient showed changes in personality characterized by abulia, indifference, and indecisiveness. T2 weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging showed high signal lesions involving bilateral globus pallidus. Our case suggests that globus pallidus injury should be included in the differential diagnosis of patients with personality or cognitive change after recovery from AMS.
Altitude ; Altitude Sickness/*complications ; Behavior ; Brain/pathology ; Brain Damage, Chronic/*etiology/pathology ; Environment ; Globus Pallidus/*pathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mountaineering

Pulmonary involvement of salmonella infection is very rare and only one case of salmonella empyema had been reported in Korea. A 53-year-old woman presented to Kyung Hee Medical Center with 2-months history of left chest pain and mild fever. 3 months prior to admission, the patient was taken to laparoscopic laser cholecystectomy due to gall stone in other hospital. Chest X-ray taken on admission day showed pneumonic infiltration at left lower lung field with pleural effusion. Salmonella Group B was identified from the cultures of stool, blood, and pleural fluid. After consecutive therapy with two weeks of ceftriaxone and three weeks of ciprofloxacin combined with repeated pleural aspirations, the patient was recovered and discharged. But she was readmitted two months later due to fever and generalized malaise. The result of blood culture showed growth of Salminella Group B. The excisional biopsy of right supraclavicular lymph node disclosed necrotizing lymphadenitis. She was recovered clinically and no more bacteremia occurred after two weeks of ciprofloxacin therapy. We present very rare case of empyema due to salmonella infection and review the pertinent literature.
Aspirations (Psychology) ; Bacteremia ; Biopsy ; Ceftriaxone ; Chest Pain ; Cholecystectomy ; Ciprofloxacin ; Empyema* ; Female ; Fever ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphadenitis ; Middle Aged ; Pleural Effusion ; Salmonella Infections ; Salmonella* ; Thorax

No abstract available.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Dementia*

BACKGROUND: It is not uncommon to misdiagnose frontotemporal dementia (FTD) because it presents with alterations in personality and behavior rather than cognitive decline. Since compulsive behavior is one of the common early manifestations of FTD, analysis of compulsive behaviors, together with presenting symptoms, would help diagnose FTD in its early stage. METHODS: Subjects consisted of 25 patients (5 men and 20 women with mean age of 56 +/-9 years) who met the FTD criteria proposed by the Lund and Manchester group. We analyzed their presenting symptoms and compulsive behaviors retrospectively. RESULTS: The presenting symptoms were variable, including inappropriate judgement, loss of spontaneity, memory disturbance, personality change, apathy, repetitive movements, hypersexuality, and parsimony. Twenty-two out of the 25 patients (88%) showed compulsive behaviors. They included reading signboards, stereotypy of speech, ordering, hoarding, washing, checking, counting, singing, and wandering a fixed route. CONCLUSIONS: Compulsive behaviors are commonly associated with FTD and thereby understanding of these symptoms together with presenting symptoms may help diagnose FTD early and minimize the misdiagnosis of FTD for Alzheimer's disease or other psychiatric illnesses.
Alzheimer Disease ; Apathy ; Compulsive Behavior* ; Diagnostic Errors ; Female ; Frontotemporal Dementia* ; Humans ; Male ; Memory ; Obsessive Hoarding ; Retrospective Studies ; Singing

Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a speech disorder due to an impaired ability to program the positioning of the speech musculature and the sequencing of muscle movements. It differs from dysarthria because speech errors are inconsistent depending on the locus of the sound. We report a 66-year-old man who presented with AOS which evolved into frontotemporal dementia 5 years later. Initial neuropsychological test showed mainly buccofacial apraxia and frontal lobe dysfunction. Brain FDG-PET disclosed hypometabolism in frontotemporal region.
Aged ; Apraxias* ; Brain ; Dysarthria ; Frontal Lobe ; Frontotemporal Dementia* ; Humans ; Neuropsychological Tests

Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS) is an inherited autosomal-dominant tumor-predisposition disorder caused by germline mutations in the TP53 tumor suppressor gene. Since patients with LFS are likely to develop therapy-related cancers, radiation therapy should be avoided if breast cancer is found in these individuals. Herein, we present a case of secondary breast cancer in an LFS patient after radiation and chemotherapy for the first diagnosed breast sarcoma.

Male breast cancer is rare, accounting for approximately 1% of breast cancers. Metastasis from extra-mammary malignancy to the breast in men is extremely rare. The most common primary tumors that metastasize to the breast in male are prostate, lung, stomach, colorectal cancer, melanoma, and sarcoma. To our knowledge, only a few cases of bladder cancer presenting with metastasis to the male breast have been reported, and metastasis with infiltration rather than mass is extremely rare. We report imaging findings on mammography and ultrasonography in a 59-year-old male with bladder cancer metastatic to the breast.

Objectives: ：This study aimed to investigate the monthly characteristics of suicide attempts among adolescents considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: ：From 2018 to 2023, patients who arrived at Korea University Ansan Hospital’s emergency depart-ment following a suicide attempt were categorized by age, with adolescents defined as those aged 18 and below.These patients were then compared across three periods: pre COVID-19, COVID-19 period, and post COVID-19 periods. Results: ：From January 2018 to December 2023, a total of 3,008 patients who attempted suicide visited the emergency room. Among them, 333 (11.1%) were adolescents. In the overall sample, the proportion of suicide attempts in January increased during the COVID-19 period compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, while the proportion in September decreased. Among adolescents, the proportion of suicide attempts in August decreased after COVID-19 compared to before. Conclusions ：Our findings highlight a concerning increase in suicide attempts among teenagers, showing a cor-relation with the academic semester after COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding and addressing this trend are paramount for effective suicide risk management strategies moving forward.