The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of follow-up care for stroke survivors on primary caregivers' quality of life. Quasi-experimental research was conducted in which an experimental group and a control group-each of 15 stroke survivors and their primary caregivers-were consecutively sampled. Data collected from July to September, 1999 by interview using a structured questionnaire with both the experimental and the control groups. After a month, the two groups were given the same questionnaire. The experimental group was also given a telephone follow-up every week for a month, as well as a home visit. The survey instruments used in this study were Saha and Cooper's Modified Barthel index (11 items) for checking the stroke survivors' level of activities of daily living, and a modified form of Jeong's Quality of life (18 items) for primary caregivers' QOL level. The obtained data were analyzed by percentage, t-test. chi-test. Kruscal-Wallis test, Spearman correlation coefficient by SAS/PC program. The results were as follows: 1. There was no significant difference in the stroke survivors' ADL level. though the level of the experimental group was higher than that of the control group. 2. There was a statistical difference in the before and after treatment of the primary caregivers' QOL level. In conclusion. the follow-up a care program had useful effect on the quality of life of primary caregivers.
Activities of Daily Living ; Caregivers ; Follow-Up Studies* ; House Calls ; Humans ; Quality of Life* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Stroke* ; Survivors* ; Telephone

No Abstract Available.
Adult* ; Capsulorhexis* ; Cataract* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans

Hantavirus is a genus of the Bunyaviridae family causing two serious diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). Puumala virus is a member of hantavirus originally found in Europe, and its natural reservoir is Clethrionomys glareolus. It is also associated with the hurnan disease nephropathia epidemica, a milder form of HFRS. To identify the hantaviruses in bats, bats were collected from Jeong-Sun, Won-Joo, Chung-Ju and Hwa-Cheon area in Korea, and nested RT-PCR was performed with serotype specific primer from M segment. Interestingly, Puumala virus was detected in bats (Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum) only from Won-Joo. The 327 bp nested RT-PCR product, was sequenced. The sequence database search indicates that the sequence is homologous to the published sequence of Puumala viruses. The sequence similarities were ranged from 71% to 97%. The highest sequence similarity was 97% with Puumala virus Vranicam strain, and the lowest was 71% with Puumala virus K27 isolate. Puumala virus Vranicam strain was isolated from a bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) in Bosnia-Hercegovina. Puumala virus K27 was isolated from human in Russia. This analysis confirms that bats (Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum) in Korea are natural reservoir of Puumala virus.
Arvicolinae ; Base Sequence ; Bunyaviridae ; Chiroptera* ; Chungcheongbuk-do ; Europe ; Hantavirus ; Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome ; Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome ; Humans ; Korea* ; Puumala virus* ; Russia ; Sequence Analysis*

Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) in children and adolescents remains one of the pathogenetically ambiguous disorders and a great trouble to their caretakers as well as patients. Although the symptom does not usually lead to a crucial problem, the parents may be terribly worried, the child may be in distress, and the practitioner may be concerned about ordering tests to confirm a serious occult disease. Systemized diagnostic approaches are needed to overcome this unique difficulty. The presence of red flag symptoms or signs is a general indication to pursue diagnostic testing for organic etiologies of CAP on the basis of specific symptoms in an individual case. Functional abdominal pain can be normally diagnosed when there are no red flag symptoms or signs. According to the Rome III criteria for pediatric functional gastrointestinal disorders, functional disorders of CAP can be classified into functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, abdominal migraine, and chronic functional abdominal pain syndrome. Cyclic vomiting syndrome and pathologic aerophagia are also major functional causes of CAP. Modern concepts of the pathogenesis of functional abdominal pain include brain-gut interaction, visceral hypersensitivity, autonomic dysfunction, and psychosocial factors. In addition, psychiatric disorders, presented with red flag symptoms or signs, may induce the CAP in children and adolescents. We introduce practical and systemized diagnostic approaches by illustrating clinical cases of CAP in children and adolescents.
Abdominal Pain ; Adolescent ; Child ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Dyspepsia ; Gastrointestinal Diseases ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Irritable Bowel Syndrome ; Migraine Disorders ; Parents ; Rome ; Vomiting

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the contents and trends of smoking and smoking cessation of adolescents in Korea. METHODS: The subjects were 315 researches from 1997 to 2008 in Korea. They were examined in terms of subjects, research design, key words, types of intervention, times of intervention, and dependent variables for experimental research, and in terms of subjects, concepts, research questions and research methods for qualitative research. RESULTS: Of the studies 52.4% were master's theses, and 22.9% of the subjects were male high school students. The most common research design was descriptive design. Major concepts studied were related to emotional cognitive variables. Among 80 experimental researches, 70% were about smoking cessation programs. The number of qualitative studies was only 6. Their concepts were smoking experience, motives for smoking cessation, smoking process, and motives for smoking. A major research question was: What does smoking mean to adolescents? CONCLUSION: More research should be done for the female students' smoking and smoking cessation. Also, research that adapts educational programs for smoking and smoking cessation needs to be performed through at least a 10 times longer period and in regular basis to get desirable results.
Adolescent* ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Qualitative Research ; Research Design ; Research Subjects ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking*

Atypical polypoid adenomyoma(APA) is a rare benign polypoid tumor arising in the uterine endometrium which was first designated by Mazur in 1981. Microscopic examination reveals architecturally and cytologically atypical endometrial glands separated by intersecting fascicles of smooth muscle cells. The tumor can be misdiagnosed as endometrial adenocarcinoma with myometrial invasion, especially on microscopic examination of a curettage specimen. However a granulation tissue-like stromal response is absent and the smooth muscle in APA is more cellular than that of normal myometrium. We are reporting 2 cases of APA of the uterine endometrium which are 1.5 cm and 1.7 cm in size, respectively, in a 30 and a 22 year-old women. This is the first report in Korean literature using the immunohistochemical staining for smooth muscle actin and desmin.
Female ; Humans ; Adenocarcinoma

OBJECTIVES: The multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) is commonly used as a valid objective measure of sleepiness. The procedure of MSLT is well standardized but the sleep onset criterion is somewhat variable. One epoch of stage 1 sleep is the most commonly used criterion, and the criterion of three epochs of stage 1 sleep is also used. The purpose of this study was to compare the two criteria used to determine sleep onset. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 60 consecutive MSLT that were performed according to a standaridized protocol. We scored each test using the two different criteria for sleep onset and then statistically analyed the results. RESULTS: Using the different criteria, 20 patients among 60 showed changes in mean sleep latency (33.3%). The extent of change ranged from 1.3% to 38.5% (mean 15.9%). Non-narcoleptic patients showed a significantly higher incidence of change than other sleep disorder patients. CONCLUSION: Changes in mean sleep latency occurred according to the different criteria of sleep onset. But the difference arising from different criteria was statistically not significant in patients with moderate to severe sleepiness. Considering that 1 epoch criterion for sleep onset is more sensitive in detecting clinically significant sleepiness, the authors suggest that the 1 epoch criterion is more reliable than the 3 epochs criterion.
Humans ; Incidence ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Liver Abscess, Pyogenic*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the triage and length of stay of cancer patients who visited an emergency department in a cancer center. METHODS: Aretrospective descriptive study design was used. Data were collected from medical records of patients who visited an emergency room from March 7 to June 30, 2016. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Walis tests. RESULTS: In total, 2,699 cancer patients visited the emergency room excluding cases with insufficient records. The mean age was 58.7±18.7 years, and males were 47.0% and 56.0%, respectively. In triage, 184 (6.8%) were ‘emergency’ patients, 823 (30.5%) were ‘urgent’, and 1,692 (62.7%) were the most ‘non-emergency’ patients. The average stay of length in the emergency room was 5.79±7.69 hours. CONCLUSION: These findings show that development of triage tool and communication system with staff are needed to reduce overcrowding and length of stay of the emergency department.
Emergencies* ; Emergency Service, Hospital* ; Humans ; Length of Stay* ; Male ; Medical Records ; Triage*