PURPOSE: This exploratory study was undertaken to analyze the information needs of family members of terminal cancer patients, collected through the telephone counselling service by National Cancer Information Center. METHODS: The study included 113 family members of terminal cancer patients who had enrolled at the National Cancer Information Center for the period from June, 2007 through March, 2008 and had agreed to the survey. RESULTS: The subjects (n=113) consisted of grown-up children (n=82) and spouses (n=8) of patients'. Those in their 40's (n=40) and 30's (n=36) accounted for the majority of the sample. The questions raised most were about the information on treatment methods (n=117), management of terminal cancer patients (n=46), terminal cancer patients' life (n=27), deathbed and prediction of remaining life (n=18), hospitalization (n=16), and financial support (n=15). Most of the subjects were satisfied with the telephone counseling services, and 69% of the subjects had come to know about the telephone counseling service via Internet, and 10.6% of them stated that the PR for the service was poor. CONCLUSION: It is deemed essential for the government to use the mass media for PR of the hospice services, since family members of terminal cancer patients' are less aware of the hospice conducive to enhancement of patients' remaining quality of life, being involued too deeply in their treatment.
Child ; Counseling ; Financial Support ; Hospices ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Information Centers ; Information Services ; Internet ; Mass Media ; Quality of Life ; Spouses ; Telephone

No abstract available.
Immunization, Passive ; Immunoglobulins ; Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome

OBJECTIVES: Emotion perception deficit has long been suggested to be one of the core features of schizophrenia. Although there have been several studies examining responses to facial expressions, few studies addressed music emotion recognition. The aim of this study was to examine the difference in emotion recognition in music between normal subjects and patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Twenty pieces of music were presented to 43 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 82 healthy controls. The set of music consisted of ten pieces of sad music and ten pieces of cheerful music. The subjects were asked to answer whether each piece of music was sad or cheerful. RESULTS: The correct response rate of music emotion recognition was lower in patients with schizophrenia compared with that in healthy controls (76.67+/-19.03% vs. 93.54+/-8.18%, p<0.001). When subgroup analyses was done by type of music ('sad' or 'cheerful'), patients showed a significantly lower correct response rate in recognizing both sad and cheerful emotion in music than healthy controls (sad emotion : 65.12+/-31.15% vs. 91.95+/-15.27%, cheerful emotion : 88.0+/-16.83% vs. 95.12+/-8.64%). The significant correlations between the clinical symptom severity of schizophrenia and music emotion recognition were not found to be. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that patients with schizophrenia might have difficulties in recognizing musical nuances.
Facial Expression ; Humans ; Music ; Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of ADPKD is still unknown but the proliferation of cystic epithelia and the fluid secretion to cystic lumen are thought to be important. Cytokines play a pivotal role in growth, differentiation, and apoptosis in general, but there were few reports about the cytokine profile in ADPKD cysts. METHODS: In this study, we measured cytokine content in aerobic culture-negative cystic fluids from 23 patients with symptomatic normal to end-stage (n=3) ADPKD in order to elucidate the possibility that cytokines are related to the development and progression of disease. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to detect IL-1beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and IFN-gamma with commercial kits. RESULTS: Male to female ratio was 6 : 17 and the median age at examination was 52 years (range 36 to 78). IL-1beta was present in 18 of 23[78%] (11 to 173 pg/mL), IL-2 in 18 of 23[78%] (5 to 159 pg/ mL), IL-4 in 9 0f 23[39%] (8 to 156 pg/mL) and IL-6 in 10 of 23[43%] (16 to 1498 pg/mL). IL-10, and IFN-gamma were not detected. IL-1beta concentrations correlated directly with those of IL-2 (r=0.7671). IL- 6 levels in patients with azotemia (n=7) [288.4+/-26.2 (mean+/-S.D.)] were significantly higher than those of normal renal function group (98.3+/-413.9)(p<0.01). Such difference was not found in other cytokines. Cytokine concentrations did not correlate with sodium concentrations, nor with cystic fluid osmolality, indicating that differences in concentrations among fluids could not be explained by differences in water content. And, there was no significant correlation between the intracystic concentrations of these cytokines and the corresponding cyst diameters. CONCLUSION: These data identify proinflammatory cytokines as possible mediators to the morbidity of ADPKD. Especially, IL-6 levels of cystic fluid were elevated in the azotemic ADPKD patients.
Apoptosis ; Azotemia ; Cytokines ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Humans ; Interleukin-10 ; Interleukin-2 ; Interleukin-4 ; Interleukin-6 ; Male ; Osmolar Concentration ; Polycystic Kidney, Autosomal Dominant* ; Sodium ; Water

The purpose of this paper is to introduce standardization activities of nursing documentation for special nursing units following standardization efforts for general nursing units last year. Modified Delphi approach with expert panel was used to identify essential nursing documents and data set for each units. Expert panel was consisted of head nurses or charge nurses of each special nursing unit from 8 tertiary hospitals with more than 500 beds in Seoul. the secretary-general of Clinical Nurses Association and a faculty of College of Nursing. The exiting nursing forms of seven special nursing units, which include Emergency room, Intensive care unit, Operating room, Respiratory intensive care unit. Delivery floor. Nursery and Dialysis room, were analyzed and prototypes of the standard nursing forms and guidelines were developed. The clinical field test was done with the help of Clinical Nurses Association. At the field test 3.744 clinical staff nurses from 20 tertiary hospitals with more than 500 beds in Korea were involved and provided feedback. Finally public hearing was held and more than 600 nurses from 116 hospitals attended and provided feedback. Through these process consensus of nursing community was attained for standard documents and data items. The result is available at http://nursing.snu.ac.kr/standard/ through internet.
Consensus ; Dataset ; Dialysis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Hearing ; Intensive Care Units ; Internet ; Korea ; Nurseries ; Nursing* ; Nursing, Supervisory ; Operating Rooms ; Seoul ; Tertiary Care Centers

BACKGROUND: The imaging system that's currently being used in the field of dermatology is based on such instruments as the dermoscope, phototrichograph and camera. In recent years, the use of an image magnification system based on polarization has become popular. OBJECTIVE: In this study, optical quantification was performed based on the multiwavelength imaging analysis of the structures that form dermatologic diseases, and an attempt was made to enhance the image quality by using polarization technology. METHODS: The lesions of three patients who were clinically diagnosed with cherry angioma, melanocytic nevus and inflammatory lesions in acne and freckles were measured at the outpatient clinic of the Department of Dermatology of the authors' hospital. All the patients were female, and their mean age was 29.3 years. RESULTS: The optical characteristics of the patients' various skin lesions, including cherry angioma, melanocytic nevus and inflammatory lesions in acne and freckles, were distinguishable by their wavelength. CONCLUSION: The use of different kinds of information may be helpful for measuring and diagnosing various skin lesions that have not been differentiated with using the previous modalities. Further, if the various environmental factors that may be generated during the measurement process can be controlled, then these study results can be applied to a standard diagnostic modality in the field of dermatology.
Acne Vulgaris ; Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Dermatology ; Female ; Hemangioma ; Humans ; Melanosis ; Nevus, Pigmented ; Prunus ; Skin