PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to show the effect of walking exercise on physiological index, physical fitness, self-esteem. depression. and life satisfaction in institutionalized elderly women aged over 70. SAMPLE AND METHOD: Data were collected from subjects who consented to participate in this program for eight weeks from the 2nd of July to the 27th of August 2005. The subjects were divided into two groups, 26 subjects in the experimental group who had walking exercise and 30 in the control group who did not have walking exercise. The intensity of the walking exercise allowed 50-65% of the maximum heartbeat. RESULTS: The results of the experiment supported the hypothesis that the experimental group would have higher flexibility, left grip strength, sense of equilibrium, self-esteem and life satisfaction and lower depression than the control group. CONCLUSION: Walking exercise has the effect of decreasing diastolic blood pressure together with improvement in flexibility, left grip strength, sense of equilibrium, self-esteem, depression and life satisfaction for institutionalized elderly women aged over 70. According to the results presented above, walking exercise can be strongly recommended for improving the health of institutionalized elderly women.
Aged* ; Blood Pressure ; Depression* ; Female ; Hand Strength ; Humans ; Physical Fitness* ; Pliability ; Self Concept* ; Walking*

Bart's syndrome was initially described as a genodermatosis characterized by congenital localized absence of the skin with blistering and nail deformities 1-3. However, it is considered as any type of epidermolysis bullosa(EB) with localized congenital absence of the skin on the extremities. A 33-day-old fbmale baby was presented with congenital absence of the skin over the left shin and dorsa of both feet which were covered with the thin, translucent, and brown-red glistening membranes. Blistering of the right calf and left great toe nail deformity were also noted. She was diagnosed as a recessive dystrophic EB by the histopathological, ultra- structural and immunomapping studies.
Blister ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Extremities ; Foot ; Membranes ; Skin ; Toes

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate prevalence and factors influencing constipation in school age children in order to help prevent and manage this problem. METHODS: The participants were 618 elementary school students (4th, 5th, and 6th grade) selected from five elementary schools. Data were gathered using questionnaires and analyzed using chi2 test, independent t-test and binary logistic regression with the PASW 18.0 program. RESULTS: The prevalence of constipation was 15.2% for these school age children. Factors influencing constipation in this population were high stress (OR: 5.77), daily intake of meat (OR: 5.42), more than 3 hours using the internet (OR: 4.50), more than 3 hours of private academy classes (OR: 2.83), obesity (OR: 2.34), and negative perceptions of school toilet environment (OR: 2.26). CONCLUSION: Psychological factors and physical activities have an important effect on constipation in school age children. Thus, there is a need to educate both children and their parents on prevention of constipation by decreasing stress, decreasing meat intake, increasing active movement and increasing positive perception of school toilet environment.
Child* ; Constipation* ; Humans ; Internet ; Logistic Models ; Meat ; Motor Activity ; Obesity ; Parents ; Prevalence* ; Psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to build a model to predict the fall prevention behavior of nurses in small and medium sized hospitals. METHODS: Participants were 382 nurses from 13 hospitals who responded to the structured self-reported questionnaire. The research model was based on previous study of fall prevention, theory of planned behavior, and the health belief model. RESULTS: The modified model generally showed higher levels than recommended level of model fit indices and acceptable explanation. Of 17 hypothetical paths, 14 were supported. Predicting variables explained 51.6% of fall prevention behavior. The fall prevention behavior of nurses showed a direct influence of fall prevention expectations, fall prevent threats, perceived behavioral control for fall prevention, and intention to prevent falls and an indirect of influence of patient safety culture, attitude toward fall prevention, and the subjective norm. CONCLUSION: Findings show a need to identify a range of barrier factors to increase the benefits of fall prevention behavior and enhance the perceived control of fall prevention so that nurses will be able to promote fall prevention behavior in hospitals. Also, it is critical to increase awareness of patient safety culture among nurses.
Accident Prevention ; Accidental Falls ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Intention ; Nurses* ; Patient Safety ; Safety Management

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether living with spouse contributes to cognitive decline and depressive symptom among elderly people. METHODS: 939 participants were recruited through Keum-Cheon center for dementia in Seoul. All subjects were assessed using the Korean version of Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE-K), Korean version of Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD-K) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Furthermore, epidemiological factors (age, sex, education year, and characteristics of family) assessed to find correlation with cognitive decline. RESULTS: Controlling for gender, age, and education year, living with spouse was significantly associated with cognitive decline (B=-0.486, S.E=0.203, Wald=0.331, Exp (B)=1.107, p=0.01). Living with spouse group has lower depressive symptom, compared to living without spouse group (F=14.6, p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Correctly, our results suggest that spouse absent state may accelerate cognitive decline and depression. Further, elderly people living alone should be closely monitored for both depression and cognitive impairment.
Aged ; Alzheimer Disease ; Dementia ; Depression ; Humans ; Spouses

Atopic eczema (AE) is a chronic, inflammatory skin disorder which usually develops in early childhood. In spite of intensive investigations, the causes of AE remain unclear, but are likely to be multifactorial in nature. Environmental factors or genetic-environmental interactions seem to play a key role in disease progression. Among various measures of AE managment, cutaneous hydration, which improves barrier function and relieve itchiness, may be helpful to reduce the need for topical steroid use and therefore should be used as a basic treatment. Avoiding aggravating factors is also a basic treatment of AE. Standard medical treatment with a pharmacologic approach may be necessary if basic treatment fails to control symptoms satisfactorily. Recently, more attention is given to a proactive therapeutic by regular intermittent application of low potency steroids or topical calcineurin inhibitors to prevent new flares. Furthermore, various targeted biologics are being introduced for AE control and are proposed as promising therapies. This paper provides a summary of the recent literature on the manangement of AE and a treatment guideline.
Biological Products ; Calcineurin ; Dermatitis, Atopic* ; Disease Progression ; Eczema ; Epidemiology ; Skin ; Steroids

OBJECTIVES: Clinical symptoms and related psychological problems in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are associated with low self-control and problematic interpersonal relationship between family members. A therapeutic narrative treatment based on "Treating Huckleberry Finn" by David Nylund was reported to be effective in reduction of individual or family conflicts. We hypothesized that therapeutic narrative treatment would improve self-control and parent-child relational problems. METHODS: Sixteen children who were diagnosed as ADHD participated in the current study. They were classified according to two groups, narrative treatment group and medication treatment group. The narrative treatment group (NTG) was asked to participate in 6 weeks combined therapy of medication and 11 sessions of narrative therapeutic treatment. The medication group (MG) was asked to participate in 6 weeks combined therapy of medication and education for behavior controls in ADHD children. RESULTS: During the 6-week treatment period, the clinical symptoms in NTG improved at a trend level, compared to MG [F(1,16)=4.32, p=0.054]. During the 6-week treatment period, the sub-scale of respecting for children in parent-child interaction scores [F(1,16)=8.65, p=0.010] and self-control scores [F(1.16)=3.78, p<0.01] in NTG improved significantly, compared to MG. CONCLUSION: Based on the current results, therapeutic narrative treatment can be a complementary trial for improving self-control and parent-child interaction in children with ADHD.
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity* ; Behavior Control ; Child* ; Education ; Family Conflict ; Huckleberry Plant ; Humans ; Narrative Therapy*

To evaluate the effect of Morphine during spinal anesthesia with alpha-adrenergic agonist, we used 0.18 mg of epinephrine, 90 ug of clonidine and 0.3 mg of morphine with 12 mg of T-cain respectively and compared hemodynamic and analgesic effects of each drug. Eighty patients were divided into four groups as follows; Group I (n=20); T-cain with clonidine, Group II (n=20); T-cain with epinephrine, Group III (n=20); T-cain with clonidine and morphine, and Group IV (n=20); T-cain with epinephrine and morphine. The results were as follows; 1) The onset time of analgesia and the time reached to the highest level of sensory loss were most rapid in the epinephrine and morphine group. 2) The duration of analgesia was significantly prolonged in the group of epinephrine and morphine than the group of epinephrine and clonidine. 3) It was more likely complicated in the morphine groups than others but there was no significance. 4) Although the heart rate was gradually decreased over 60 min. after anesthesia, there was no significance between the groups. 5) Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were decreased mainly over 30~45 min. after anesthesia, but there was no significance. In conclusion, epinephrine can be sustituted for clonidine because analgesic duration was not significantly changed, and the duration of analgesia was prolonged by morphine.
Adrenergic alpha-Agonists ; Analgesia ; Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, Spinal* ; Blood Pressure ; Clonidine* ; Epinephrine* ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Morphine*

BACKGROUND: Acute drug intoxication has recently become an important issue in the social and clinical areas. There are various complications associated with acute drug intoxication such as pneumonia, but the process is was not fully understood. The aim of this study was to analyze our cases of pneumonia associated with acute drug intoxication and to determine the associated risk factors. METHOD: Forty four cases out of 237 patients, who were acute drug intoxicated from May 2000 to Feb. 2005, were diagnosed with pneumonia at the Konyang University hospital. These cases were analyzed by a retrospective review of their medical records. RESULTS: The incidence of pneumonia in acute drug intoxication was 18.6%. There was no gender difference in terms of the incidence, but the age group with the highest incidence was in the 5th decade (22.5%) followed by the 7th decade (17.9%). Most common drug of associated with pneumonia was organophosphate insecticides, and the others were herbicides. Suicidal attempts were the most common motive of intoxication. The incidence of pneumonia was increased in old age (beta=0.128, p<0.05). A drowsy or comatous mental status was an independent risk factors of pneumonia (beta=-0.209, p=0.006). A longer hospital duration was also a risk factor for pneumonia (beta=0.361, p<0.001). The intubated state, intensive care unit care and longer duration of admission correlated with the course of pneumonia in acute drug intoxicated patients (p<0.05). The culture study revealed MRSA to be most common pathogen. CONCLUSION: The incidence of pneumonia associated with acute drug intoxication was higher in the older aged patients, those with a decreased initial mental status and a longer hospital duration. The number of days in the intensive care unit and intubation were associated prognostic factors for pneumonia in acute drug intoxication patients.
Herbicides ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insecticides ; Intensive Care Units ; Intubation ; Medical Records ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Pneumonia* ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors