The term body composition describes the percentages of fat, bone, and muscle in the human body; it reflects the nutritional or growth status in children and adolescents. Further, its evaluation is clinically important to assess the nutritional abnormalities, growth failure, progress of chronic diseases, or treatment measures for these conditions. Body composition parameters such as total body fat and fat distribution are risk factors for metabolic disease not only in adults but also in children and adolescents. Inadequate bone mineral acquisition and failure to achieve peak bone mass is a risk for subsequent osteoporosis. Therefore, measuring the body composition is important to ascertain the natural course of metabolic diseases and to develop strategies for their prevention because the body composition of children and adolescents is predictive of their body composition as adults. This article will review the basic concept and methods of measuring body composition. This review also deals with the evaluation of body composition in Korean children and adolescents. Because the body composition of individuals differs with age, body weight, puberty, sex, race, and ethnicity, it is important for pediatricians to know the characteristics of the body composition change in Korean children and adolescents.
Adipose Tissue ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Body Composition ; Body Weight ; Child ; Chronic Disease ; Continental Population Groups ; Humans ; Metabolic Diseases ; Muscles ; Osteoporosis ; Puberty ; Risk Factors

More than 25% of Korean population aged ≥ 65 years has diabetes, and elderly diabetic patients show higher mortality, reduced functional activity, and increased risk of hospitalization. The care of elderly diabetic patients is complicated by their clinical, cognitive, and functional heterogeneity. Healthy patients with good functional status can be treated using therapeutic interventions and goals similar those for younger adults with diabetes. For patients with complications and reduced functionality, intensive glycemic control should be avoided. Glycemic goals for older patients might be individualized so that treatment can achieve the appropriate balance between glycemic control and risk of hypoglycemia.
Adult ; Aged ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Hypoglycemia ; Mortality ; Population Characteristics

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to review studies of Meaning-Centered Intervention (MCI) in advanced or terminal cancer patients using Whittemore and Knafl's integrative review method. METHODS: We conducted a literature search using nine English or Korean electronic databases by using the keywords ‘meaning therapy OR meaning-centered intervention OR psychotherapy’. All studies were original articles about MCI in peer-reviewed journals from inception to August 2017. A risk of bias assessment tool for non-randomized studies was used for quality assessment. RESULTS: Seventeen studies matched the criteria. Thirteen studies assessed through RoBANS had a low risk of bias in most areas. The most frequently used tools were 8 group intervention sessions around 90 or 120 minutes in length. The outcome variables used in this study were quality of life, anxiety, depression, meaning of life, and spiritual well-being. The purpose of MCI was to improve the spiritual well-being and quality of life for patients by finding meaning in life even when faced with cancer. CONCLUSION: In this study, spiritual care was identified as an important factor from the MCI applied evidence-based data. The MCI could be effective way to improve spiritual well-being for the patients with advanced or terminal cancer and their families.
Anxiety ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Depression ; Humans ; Methods ; Nursing ; Quality of Life

No abstract available.
Animals ; Rats*

The incidence of metabolic syndrome (MS) has increased significantly worldwide including Korea over the past decade. Recent studies have shown that the MS develops during childhood and is highly prevalent among overweight children and adolescents. Thus, it is important for physicians to be acquainted with the definition, diagnostic criteria, epidemiology, and pathophysiology of MS for early identification and management of the MS in children and adolescents, which would be helpful to decrease the burden of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adults. The aim of this review is to provide adequate guidelines for screening and managing strategies on MS based on recent findings. Proper and effective control of MS needs close cooperation among patients, physician, family members, school, society, and government, and it should be based on a thorough evaluation of medical system on obesity and MS.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Child ; Humans ; Incidence ; Insulin Resistance ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Physicians, Family ; Primary Health Care

BACKGROUND: Experience of awareness with recall during general anesthesia can be most distressing for patients. The psychological sequelae of subsequent recall of intraoperative events have been highlighted recently, but the incidence of awareness with recall is uncertain. METHODS: Randomly selected 451 patients, who received elective operation under general anesthesia and were able to communicate with anesthesiologists and follow up for 5 days between December 1995 and February 1996 at Korea Cancer Center Hospital, were interviewed on the 2nd day after their operation. RESULTS: The incidence of explicit memory for events during general anesthesia has been estimated at 0.4% by interviewing patients postoperatively. Auditory perception and the sensation of paralysis were most frequently mentioned. 1.1% of patients had been dreaming during general anesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: Under the influence of anesthetic drugs, the brain is capable of limited processing of information and memory function. Everyone in the operating room must be mindful of conversations during the course of anesthesia and all patients should be given an opportunity to discuss any awareness in detail.
Anesthesia ; Anesthesia, General* ; Anesthetics ; Auditory Perception ; Brain ; Dreams* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Incidence* ; Korea ; Memory ; Operating Rooms ; Paralysis ; Sensation

We aimed to compare the immune response induced by natural infection with 2009 pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (pH1N1) virus and by monovalent pH1N1 vaccination in children and adolescents. This cross-sectional clinical study was conducted at 3 hospitals in Korea from February to May 2010. A total of 266 healthy subjects aged from 6 months to 18 yr were tested for the presence of the antibody against pH1N1 using hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. Information about pH1N1 vaccination and laboratory-confirmed pH1N1 infection history was obtained. The overall rate of HI titers of > or = 1:40 against pH1N1 was 38.7%, and the geometric mean titer (GMT) was 20.5. Immunogenicity of pH1N1 vaccination only was reflected by a 41.1% of seroprotection rate and a GMT of 22.5. Immunogenicity of natural infection only was reflected by a 61.0% of seroprotection rate and a GMT of 40.0. GMT was significantly higher in the subjects of natural infection group than in the subjects of pH1N1 vaccination group (P < 0.001). The immune responses induced by natural pH1N1 infection exceed those induced by pH1N1 vaccinations.
Adolescent ; Antibodies, Neutralizing/blood ; Antibody Formation ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Hemagglutination Inhibition Tests ; Humans ; Infant ; Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype/*immunology/metabolism ; Influenza, Human/epidemiology/*immunology/prevention & control ; Pandemics ; Vaccination

No abstract available.
Animals ; Coal* ; Dust* ; Lung* ; Rats* ; Silicon Dioxide*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore the level of professional self-concept, self-efficacy and job satisfaction among nurses who work at hemodialysis units. METHODS: With convenience sampling, 128 nurses working at hemodialysis settings in Chungcheong Province were participated in this study. Data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 14.0 with descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTS: The mean scores were 2.68 for professional self-concept, 3.65 for self efficacy and 3.14 for job satisfaction. There were significant differences in professional self-concept according to age, religion, position and clinical experience. There was statistically significant difference in self-efficacy according to age. Also, there was statistically significant difference in job satisfaction according to age, marital status, hospital type, position, clinical experience, and the number of patients per nurse. Job satisfaction was positively correlated with professional self-concept and self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: These findings provided that interventions to enhance professional self-concept as well as the strategies to improve self-efficacy are very important.
Humans ; Job Satisfaction ; Marital Status ; Renal Dialysis ; Self Efficacy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to construct reference data for birth length of full-term and preterm Korean infants by sex and to define a sex-specific birth length cut-off to identify small for gestational age (SGA).METHODS: Data were collected from the 4th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007–2009), comprising 843 children with birth length data and birth history.RESULTS: References for the 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 97th percentiles of birth length and weight were created using singleton neonates of gestational age (GA) 36–37 weeks and 38–41 weeks by sex. The birth length cutoff value for SGA (<10th percentile) was 48 cm in both male and female neonates, and the ≤3rd percentile cutoff was 47 cm in males and 46 cm in females born at a GA of 38–41 weeks.CONCLUSION: New Korean reference data were created for birth length and differed from those of other ethnicities. Further research on short-term and long-term health outcomes of SGA infants based on the new reference data is needed.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Parturition ; Reproductive History