PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to test the physical and psychological- emotional status according to type of personality of female college student smokers and to provide baseline data for smoking cessation education programs for women. METHOD: The data were collected from May to June, 2002. The subjects were 119 female students who smoked. The data were analyzed using SPSS/PC. RESULTS: The results are as follows 1. There were 91 (76.5%) A type and 28 (23.5%) B Type personality types, indicating that female student smokers were more frequently type A rather than type B. 2.Perceived health status by personality type indicated that those with type B (27.71+/-4.67) perceived higher health status than those with type A (26.53+/-4.60) but the result was not statistically significant (p=0.237). 3.Perceived stress by personality type indicated that those with type B (83.71+/-13.13) perceived more stress than those with type A (70.52+/-12.35). 4.Differences between depression by personality type indicated that those with type B (47.21+/-8.53) perceived more stress than those with type A (45.42+/-7.32) but this was not statistically significant (p=.277). 5.There were significant negative correlations between perceived health status and stress (r=-0.300, P<0.004), depression and perceived health status (r=-0.456, P<0.000). There was significant positive correlation between stress and depression (r=0.700, P<0.000). 6.There was no significant difference between perceived health status, stress, or depression according to general characteristics. CONCLUSION: According to the results, researchers should continually identify women's smoking behavior included various physical and psychological variables related to women's health. In addition, programs for improving physical and psychological health should be designed and operated to decrease the perception of stress and to increase the perception of health motivation for women smokers.
Depression ; Education ; Female* ; Humans ; Motivation ; Smoke* ; Smoking ; Smoking Cessation ; Women's Health

Actinomycosis is a chronic suppurative and granulomatous disease characterized by peripheral spread and extension to contagious tissue, rare hematogenous spread, and the formation of multiple draining sinus tracts. In the rare case of hematogenous disseminated Actinomycosis; lesions appear in all parts of the body. Bone involvement, however, is very rare except the jaw and there has been only some reports about the ribs and vertebral columns. To our knowledge, this case represents the first report of documented distal femoral involvement.
Actinomycosis ; Femur ; Fractures, Spontaneous ; Jaw ; Osteomyelitis ; Ribs ; Spine

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between neuralgic pain distribution and the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). METHOD: Pain drawings using computerized pain chart system were collected from 131 patients (213 hands) with CTS. The presence and severity of CTS were determined by means of median motor and sensory nerve conduction studies. The severity was divided into 3 classes on the basis of electrophysiological findings: mild (93 hands), moderate (70 hands) and severe (50 hands). The similarities between pain drawing patterns and median nerve dermatome in the hands were evaluated. The pain distributions of the palmar and dorsal sides of each five fingers, palm and dorsum of hand were also evaluated. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in similarity values of pain distribution among the groups of CTS hands divided by severity: similarity values were 0.22+/-0.14 in mild CTS patients, 0.24+/-0.16 in moderate CTS patients and 0.27+/-0.14 in severe CTS patients. In the CTS patients, the pain drawings showed relatively frequent distributions in the palmar side of 2nd to 4th fingers. CONCLUSION: There was no significant correlation between pain drawing patterns and severity of CTS. The pain drawings of patients with CTS indicate distribution to be most frequent in the palmar side of 2nd to 4th fingers.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome* ; Fingers ; Hand ; Humans ; Median Nerve ; Neural Conduction

In this research, we examined the frequency of exposure to violence in the home, school and neighborhood among middle school students as well as its related psychiatric symptoms. A total of 1,345 students from 5 middle schools in Seoul participated in this study: 670 were male, 675 were female. We administered self-reported questionaires including discriptions of exposure to violence and a trauma symptom checklist(TSC)(Singer 1995). 1) The total frequency of exposure to any type of violence was 45% in our sample. The frequency of girls' being hit in home was 22.8%, which was significantly higher than it was for boys(p<0.001). The frequency of boys' exposure to violence in school and in the neighborhood was 22.1% and 10.1% respectively, which was higher than it was for girls(p<0.005). 2) In factor analysis of TSC, 4 factors were identified. TSC including depression-anxity, PTSD, dissociation and anger was correlated with violence exposure variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that TSC is related with violence victimization in life(R2=0.18), sexual assault(R2=0.12), recent victimization in the home(R2=0.08), recent witness to violencein the home(R2=0.07), recent victimization in school(R2=0.08) and all violence exposures(R2=0.29). 3) Among the demographic variables, sex, parental alcohol problem and student alcohol-smoking-drug problems influenced the TSC(p<0.005). TSC could be result of witness to violence as well violence victimization. And the risk factors for violence-related psychiatric symptoms were mainly seen in females, who have parents with alcohol problems or who themselves have alcohol-substance problems. So intervention programs for violence victims should be focused on the these high risk group.
Adolescent ; Anger ; Crime Victims ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Parents ; Residence Characteristics ; Risk Factors ; Seoul ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Violence*

BACKGROUND: Thoracic paravertebral blockade (TPVB) can be effective in many clinical settings. However, many clinicians are reluctant to use this technique due to its adverse effects such as pneumothorax. The aim of this study was estimate the appropriate depth and width for safe needle positioning. METHODS: The depth from skin to the paravertebral space (PVS) and the width from the spinous process (SP) to the PVS and the lateral tip of the transverse process (LTTP) were measured in all available sections from 84 patients examined by chest computed tomography (CT). The correlation between age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and each measured value was analyzed. RESULTS: All 828 sections from the 84 patients aged between 19 and 65 years old were evaluated. The minimum and maximum values of the mean depth from the skin to PVS were 40.3-52.4 mm in men and 41.2-55.9 mm in women. The minimum and maximum values of the mean width from the SP to LTTP were 29.2-34.6 mm in men and 23.7-31.0 mm in women. At every thoracic level, the depth to PVS was similar in both genders but the width from the SP to the NEP in men was significantly higher than in women. Weight significantly influenced the width from the SP to LTTP in men but height and BMI did not. Also weight and BMI significantly influenced the depth from skin to PVS in almost all of the thoracic region at both sex, but height did not influence the depth from skin to PVS in both sex. CONCLUSIONS: We report clinically useful estimates that may be used to help avoid side effects such as pneumothorax and achieve a successful thoracic paravertebral blockade.
Aged ; Body Mass Index ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Needles* ; Pneumothorax ; Skin ; Thorax