PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of prior information about ICU environment on the anxiety and environmental stress of cardiac surgery ICU patients. METHODS: A non-equivalent control group non-synchronized quasi-experimental research design was used. Participants were 60 (control 30, experimental 30) patients who had been admitted to ICU. Prior information about the ICU environment was provided to the experimental group. The anxiety level of subjects was measured by State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the stress level of subjects was measured by the Intensive Care Unit Environmental Stressor Scale (ICUESS). Data were analyzed using a Chi-square test or a Fisher's exact test, independent samples t-test, and paired samples t-test. RESULTS: There was no difference in Anxiety (t=-0.58, p=.563), but there was a significant difference in environmental stress (t=10.46, p<.001). CONCLUSION: Providing prior information would be an effective nursing intervention to reduce environmental stress.
Anxiety* ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units* ; Nursing ; Research Design ; Thoracic Surgery*

This study was performed to investigate effect of dried powders and ethanol extracts of garlic flesh and peel on antioxidative capacity in 16-month- old rats. Forty Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 618.1 +/- 6.5 g were blocked into five groups according to body weight and raised for 3 months with experimental diets containing 5% (w/w) of dried powders of garlic flesh or peel, or ethanol extracts from equal amount of each dried powder. Total polyphenols, flavonoids, beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and total antioxidant status (TAS) levels were determined in garlic preparations. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels in plasma, liver and VLDL + LDL fraction, oxidative DNA damage (8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine, 8OHdG) in kidney, xanthine oxidase (XO) activities in plasma and liver, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in erythrocyte and liver, and carotenoid concentration, and total antioxidant status (TAS) in plasma were measured. Total polyphenols and flavonoids contents in garlic preparations were highest in peel ethanol extract. Vitamin C content was not different significantly among preparations, but peel powder contains slightly more vitamin C. The content of beta-carotene was highest in peel ethanol extract and vitmain E content was highest in flesh ethanol extract. The highest level of TAS was observed in peel ethanol extract. Plasma TBARS levels in all the experimental groups were found to be significantly lower than control group, and TBARS concentration in VLDL + LDL fraction was decreased in all the experimental groups in comparison to control group. Also levels of 8OHdG in kidney in experimental groups were lower than that of control group. Plasma and liver XO activities were decreased in all experimental groups, and erythrocyte and liver SOD activities were higher in experimental groups compared to control group. All experimental groups also showed higher plasma TAS levels than control group. Especially, garlic flesh powder group was significantly lower in plasma and liver XO activities, and significantly higher in erythrocyte and liver SOD activities than control group. Moreover, plasma TBARS level and kidney 8OHdG level were decreased in flesh powder group. In conclusion, garlic diets showed effect of improving antioxidative capacity in 16-month old rats, especially, garlic flesh powder was prominent in inhibiting XO activitiy, promoting SOD activity and decreasing kidney 8OHdG level among experimental groups.
Animals ; Ascorbic Acid ; beta Carotene ; Body Weight ; Diet ; DNA Damage ; Erythrocytes ; Ethanol* ; Flavonoids ; Garlic* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Kidney ; Liver ; Male ; Plasma ; Polyphenols ; Powders* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Superoxide Dismutase ; Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins ; Xanthine Oxidase

This study was performed to investigate effect of dried powders and ethanol extracts of garlic flesh and peel on lipid metabolism and antithrombogenic capacity in 16-month-old rats. Forty Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing 618.1 +/- 6.5 g were blocked into five groups according to body weight and raised for 3 months with control and experimental diets containing 5% (w/w) of dried powders of garlic flesh or peel, or ethanol extracts from equal amount of each dried powder and control diet. Plasma and liver total lipids, triglyceride and total cholesterol, and plasma HDL-cholesterol, thromboxane B2 (TXB2), 6-keto- prostaglandin F1alpha (6-keto-PGF1alpha) concentrations were measured. Total, insoluble and soluble dietary fibers contents were highest in peel powder followed by fresh powder, and those in ethanol extracts of flesh and peel, especially soluble, very low. Plasma and liver total lipids, triglyceride, and total cholesterol concentrations were lower in all the garlic experimental groups compared to Especially, flesh and peel powder lowered plasma total lipids, triglyceride and total cholesterol concentrations markedly, and flesh powder and flesh ethanol extract lowered liver total lipids, triglyceride and total cholesterol concentration remarkably. Plasma TXB2 concentrations in garlic experimental groups were lower than that of control group, and 6-keto-PGF1alpha concentrations. In garlic experimental groups were higher than that of control group. Flesh ethanol extract group showed the lowest TXB2 and the highest 6-keto-PGF1alpha concentrations among experimental groups, so TXB2/6-keto-PGF1alpha ratio in flesh ethanol extract group was significantly lower than that of control group. Moreover, clotting time was significantly increased in flesh ethanol extract group as compared to control group. In conclusion, intakes of dried powders and ethanol extracts of garlic flesh and peel were effective in lowering lipid levels of liver and plasma. And also flesh ethanol extract diet was most effective in antithrombogenic activity among garlic experimental groups as TXB2/6-keto- PGF1alpha ratio in flesh ethanol extract group was significantly lower and clotting time was significantly increased in this group as compared to control group.
Animals ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Diet ; Dietary Fiber ; Ethanol* ; Garlic* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Lipid Metabolism* ; Liver ; Male ; Plasma ; Powders* ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Thromboxane B2 ; Triglycerides

OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors which can delay home discharges or transfers to other hospitals of rehabilitation inpatients in a tertiary hospital and the change of discharge destination during past 6 years. METHOD: This was a retrospective study of patients with a diagnosis of stroke, traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury who were admitted to our hospital in 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2003. Demographic data, length of stay, discharge destination and functional status by the FIM(TM) instrument were studied by a medical record review. RESULT: Patients who were transferred to other hospitals or discharged with delay showed significantly lower admission and discharge FIM scores, lower FIM efficiencies, longer length of stays and longer intervals between the onset and admission to a rehabilitation ward. CONCLUSION: Lower functional outcome was associated with a longer length of stay and discharge to another hospital. It would be necessary to establish the long term rehabilitation care facilities with extended rehabilitation program for the patients with lower functional gains in a rehabilitation unit of the tertiary hospitals.
Brain Injuries ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Inpatients* ; Length of Stay ; Medical Records ; Rehabilitation* ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; Stroke ; Tertiary Care Centers*

Fifty nine patients of tuverculous menigiis who were admitted to the Pediatric department of Seoul Red Cross Hospital during the period from March, 1976 to December 1977 were treated with rifampin in addition to isoniazid and streptomycin injection, and Compaired with 135 cases of tuberculous meningitis who were admitted during the period from January, 1971 to December, 1975. The contrast group was composed of 21 cases who obtained as folows. 1) Out of 59 patients givern rifampin, only 5 patients died resulting in lower motality rate (8.5%) whereas 20 patients died out of 135 cases given PAS regimen showing 14.8% of motality rate. 2) Seven cases on each stage of PAS regimen group and 10 cases of stage I, 9 cases of stage II and III of rifampin group were reviewed for the respects of defeveration, durratio of disappearance of meningeal irritation signs, improvements of conciousness and neurological defects and self feeding ability. It was very hard to conclude the superiority on one group because of the similarity of days needed for the improvement. However, superior results with rifampin regimen could be mentioned among the patients with second and third stage of tuberculous meningitis for the clinical improvements. 3) Serial examination of cerebrospinal fluids of the cases in 3 stage revealed no direct relationship either for the clinical improvements or the for ultimate outcome of the patients themselves. C. S. F. improvements were observed in average within one to three weeks. 4) Side effects of fifampin ; the level of SGOT, SGPT and bilirubin at the time of of admission wrer all normal. Twenty-one cases out of 41 patients showed the impairment of liver function after the first to second week of treatment with the dosage of 15-20mg/kg/day. In 3 out of 21 cases, the drug had to be discontinued, owing to the futher elevation of SGOT and SGPT but in 18 out of 21 cases, liver function was gradually normalized within one to two weeks after the dosage of rifampin had been reduced down to 10mg/kg/day. There was no evidence of impairment of liver function on the follow-up evaluation from 4 to 10 months later. And there were no significant changes in Hb, Hct, platelet counts during the course of the therapy. The hepatitis, the well known side effects such as hemolytic anemia, skin rashes and G-I tract disturbance were not observed during the course of treatment. Bases on the above observations that rifampin reduced the motality and shortened the duration of clinical manifestation without the serious side effects except for transient hepatitis, rifampin plus isoniazid would seem to be preferred for the patients who are seen at the late stage of the disease. We know that the number of cases of this study is not enough to draw the definite conclusion of the superiority of rifampin, however, the of these prelininary observations seemed to cast a bright light for the futher trial and follow up observations.
Alanine Transaminase ; Anemia, Hemolytic ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Bilirubin ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Child* ; Exanthema ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Isoniazid ; Liver ; Platelet Count ; Red Cross ; Rifampin* ; Seoul ; Streptomycin ; Tuberculosis, Meningeal*

Nephrotic syndrome occurs infrequentiy prior to the second year of life. When nephrotic syndrome does develop during the first year, the course differs from that of older children with nephrotic sydrome, being characterized by an extremely poor prognosis and an almost complete refractoriness to therapy. Despite its low incidence congenital nephrotic syndrome is important, not only because of the severity and the disorder itself but also because the occurrence of nephrotic syndrome in this age group rasies question regarding the etiology of the disease. We experienced one case of congenital nephrotic syndrome which was confirmed by autopsy. The patient was born as a premature infant with body weight 1,400gm and 37weeks of gestational age, to a toxemic mother, gravida 3 and parity 3 in Obsteric Department of Seoul Red Cross Hospital. The patient had an uncomplicated nursery staying even though routine weekly urinalysis did show up various degree of proteinuria and microscopic hematuria without any obvious edema till the age of 50 days with body weight 2,400gm on the discharge. He was lost to be followed at Out Patient Department untill the age of 4months when he was brought to admission because of respiratory distress in generalized edematous state. He died at 7 months of age following progressive down-hill cours, despite treatment with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide for 2 months. At autopsy, almost all of the glomeruli (99%) were sclerotic with occassional creascent formation and tubules showed mircocystic dilataions. It is considered that this case was the first one which was presented on literature in Korea.
Autopsy ; Body Weight ; Child ; Cyclophosphamide ; Edema ; Female ; Gestational Age ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Infant, Premature ; Korea ; Mothers ; Nephrotic Syndrome* ; Nurseries ; Parity ; Prednisolone ; Prognosis ; Proteinuria ; Red Cross ; Seoul ; Urinalysis

A 56-year-old male with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) underwent surgical resection of the tumor. Nine months after surgery, imatinib therapy was initiated because of the discovery of metastatic tumors in the left adrenal gland and in a lymph node of the peritoneum. Seventeen months later, the patient achieved complete remission (CR) and imatinib therapy was continued. However, 48 months after initiation of imatinib therapy, computed tomography scans revealed a left adrenal gland metastasis and the patient underwent left adrenalectomy. Immunohistochemical staining indicated that the spindle-shaped cells of the resected tumor were positive for C-kit, thus confirming metastasis of the GIST. This is the first report from Korea of an adrenal gland metastasis from a GIST. Worldwide, only two such cases have been reported. Here, we describe the first case of a distant recurrence of a GIST in the left adrenal gland after CR had been achieved with the aid of surgical resection and imatinib therapy.
Adrenal Glands* ; Adrenalectomy ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors* ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Peritoneum ; Recurrence

A case of left temporal gliosarcoma is reported. The patient was a 40-year old man who had headache, behavior change, dysphasia, and mental confusion for about 2 months duration. On brain CT, a large partially cystic mass with homogeneous enhancement was located at left temporal lobe and associated with remarkable peritumoral edema and mass effect. Angiographic tumor vascularity was faintly visualized. Surgical subtotal resection of the tumor and post-operative radiotherapy offered transient symptomatic improvement, being followed within several months by clinical deterioration and regrowth of the tumor on brain CT. Light microscopic studies of the H & E and special stained specimens showed two different components within the tumor in a mixed fashion, i.e. intermingled glioblastoma multiforme and fibrosarcoma. Electron microscopic study of the sarcomatous cells disclosed intracytoplasmic Weibel-Palade-like bodies, a specific marker of endothelial cells. The fibrosarcomatous component of gliosarcoma is believed to be originated from malignant transformation of the hyperplastic endothelial cells within the anaplastic glioma. Literature concerned with gliosarcoma is reviewed.
Adult ; Aphasia ; Brain ; Edema ; Endothelial Cells ; Fibrosarcoma ; Glioblastoma ; Glioma ; Gliosarcoma* ; Headache ; Humans ; Radiotherapy ; Temporal Lobe

PURPOSE: In this study, a possible suppressive effect of a flavon extracted from Artemisia absinthium on a mouse collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model was investigated. METHODS: DBA/1 mice were injected intradermally with emulsified chicken type II collagen. Three weeks after immunization, a flavon was introduced p.o. everyday. Clinical incidences of arthritis and arthritis index were measured. Measurement of anti-collagen antibodies and a stimulation index of the splenocytes of the mice were measured. IL-10 and TNF-alpha in the supernatants of the mice sera were measured by ELISA. mRNA expression for IL-10 and TNF-alpha in the splenocytes were tested. RESULTS: Flavon extracted from Artemisia absinthium appears to be an effective suppressor of CIA in mice. The serum anti-collagen antibody level and stimulation index of the cultured splenocytes showed no significant differences among the three experimental groups. Also serum IL-10 and TNF-alpha levels did not show any significant differences among the three experimental groups. An increased expression of mRNA for IL-10 was observed in the splenocytes treated with flavon. CONCLUSION: With these results, flavon extracted from Artemisia absinthium appears to have a suppressive effect of CIA. The mechanism of the suppressive effect of flavon extracted from Artemisia absinthium may be from a stimulation of IL-10 production.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Artemisia absinthium* ; Artemisia* ; Arthritis* ; Arthritis, Experimental ; Chickens ; Collagen Type II ; Collagen* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Immunization ; Incidence ; Interleukin-10 ; Mice* ; RNA, Messenger ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

The purpose of this study was to measure hospitalized patients' satisfactions with hospital foodservices, and thereby identify areas for improvement and provide basic data for the introduction of total quality management with hospital foodservices. This survey was carried out questionnaires by 382 hospitalized patients into 7 hospitals in Deagu, Busan, Changwon. The subjects were 50.5% male and 49.5% female. Sixty-two percent of the subjects were over 40age, 31.4% were only educated to middle school or below, 28.3% were hospitalized for 7~14 days. The result of evaluation for hospital foodservice during the length of hospitalization are as follows : Taste, seasoning, temperature, apperance of foods were higher in the short hospitalized patients than in the long hospitalized patients, especially kind and combinazation of food were significantly higher(p<0.001). The result of the foodservice with appetite status was significantly higher score(3.33) in the good appetite patients than in the bad appetite patients score(2.00)(p<0.001). As the hospitalization rooms were the significantly difference in the taste(p<0.05), seasoning(p<0.001), apperance(p<0.01) of the foods, amount of service(p<0.01), variety of menu(p<0.05), combinazation of foods(p<0.01) and opinion of patients(p<0.05).
Appetite ; Busan ; Daegu ; Female ; Food Quality ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Seasons ; Total Quality Management