OBJECTIVE: This study examines the risk factors of the falls of the dementic elderlies in the nursing home. Especially we investigated how the psychotropics affect them in the aspect of the falling tendency. METHODS: We investigated the falls of the 262 patients living in the Seoul JungGae Nursing Home for six month since March 1 1999. Among these we recruited 182 patients whom the exclusion criteria was applied to, and then we measured the relative risks of risk factors known from the previous studies. RESULTS: The incidence rate of falls is 40.1/100person year. The relative risk of gender, age, disease of central nervous system, chronic illness, cognitive function, antipsychotics, antidepressants and anxiolytics had no significance (p>0.05). BADL, mobility, mood stabilizers were related with the falls significantly, and the relative risks were 0.904 (95%CI 0.840-0.973), 1.744 (95%CI 1.064-2.858), 4.683 (95%CI 1.412-15.532) relatively. CONCLUSIONS: The average rate of falling was 40.1/100person year showing less frequent accidents than that of other foreign studies, which was assumed the large number the care-givers and sitting life style on the floor helped preventing the elderlis' falling. Although The gender, age, disease of central nervous system, chronic illness, cognitive function, antipsychotics, antidepressants and anxiolytics did not influence the rate of the falling tendendy of the elderlies, the mobility and impaired activity of daily living increased the rate of their falling. The elderlies taking psychotropics more fell than others not taking pills. The imbalance between the mobile potency and imposed real activity causes the falls. When the psychotropics affect negatively on the mobility, it increases the falling rate of the elderlies. On the other hands, when these affect positively, these prevent elderlies falling.
Anti-Anxiety Agents ; Antidepressive Agents ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Central Nervous System ; Chronic Disease ; Dementia ; Hand ; Humans ; Incidence ; Life Style ; Nursing Homes* ; Nursing* ; Risk Factors* ; Seoul

Crystallins are the major proteins found in the lens, and the localization of specific crystallins is well known. Overexpression and accumulation of alphaB-crystallin has been observed in response to stress conditions or in certain diseases, such as brain tumors and neurodegenerative diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine whether alpha-crystallins are modified during pathological myofibroblastic changes in lens epithelial cells. Lens epithelial cells attached to the anterior capsules of patients with nuclear or anterior polar cataracts were analyzed quantitatively for alpha-crystallin proteins and mRNAs using Western blot and RT-PCR analysis., respectively. The degree of modification of alpha-crystallins was determined by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis followed by Western blotting. Higher molecular weight protein bands that were immunoreactive to anti-alphaA- and anti-alphaB-crystallin antibodies around 45 kDa accumulated more in the anterior polar cataract samples than in those with the nuclear type of cataracts. Also monomeric alphaB-crystallins accumulated more in lens epithelial cells of patients with anterior polar cataracts. By comparison, no significant changes were found in the levels of the mRNAs encoding alphaA- and alphaB-crystallins in the different types of cataracts. Both alphaA- and alphaB-crystallin proteins seemed to undergo more extensive modification in anterior polar cataracts. Conclusion. In addition to fibrotic changes, which accompany increased levels of extracellular matrix molecules, accumulation and abnormal modification of alpha-crystallins might be implicated in the pathogenic mechanism of this type of cataract.
Adult ; Cataract/*genetics/metabolism ; Epithelial Cells/metabolism ; Female ; Human ; Lens, Crystalline/metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; RNA, Messenger/analysis ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; alpha-Crystallin A Chain/*genetics/metabolism ; alpha-Crystallin B Chain/*genetics/metabolism

OBJECTIVES: We tested the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the PANSS (PANSS-KV). METHODS: The PANSS ratings were obtained from 101 subjects with DSM-IV diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizophreniform disorder. To study the concurrent validity, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were also administrated in 38 patients. Using these data, inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, criterion validity and concurrent validity were evaluated. Factor structure was analyzed by the principal axis factoring. RESULTS: The inter-rater reliability of the Korean version of the PANSS was satisfactory in positive (r=0.92) and negative syndrome subscales(r=0.86), but somewhat low in general psychopathology subscale (r=0.78). The test-retest correlations for the 3 PANSS subscales ranged between 0.89 and 0.95, so it showed excellent test-retest reliability. The Cronbach's alpha for the positive, negative and general psychopathology subscales were 0.73, 0.84 and 0.74, respectively and thus the 3 subscales of the PANSS had good internal consistencies. All separate items revealed significant corrected item-total correlations in the positive and negative syndrome subscales, but some items of the general psychopathology subscale showed no or low corrected item-total correlations. The positive and negative syndrome subscales held a high concurrent validity in relation to the SAPS and the SANS. It was confirmed that positive and negative syndromes were independent constructs. The factor analysis by the principal axis factoring produced 5 components: cognitive, excitement, depression, positive and negative. CONCLUSION: These findings prove that the reliability and validity of the PANSS-KV are comparable to those of the original PANSS. So, the PANSS-KV can be widely and extensively used in researches for schizophrenia.
Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Humans ; Psychopathology ; Psychotic Disorders ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor plays an important role in synaptic plasticity. The functional NMDA receptor is an oligomer of several subunits and the most abundant subunits in the brain are NR1, NR2A and NR2B. The function of the NMDA receptor is regulated by protein phosphorylation and by changes in the level of protein expression. The present study examined the effect of repeated electroconvulsive shock (ECS), an effective antidepressant and antipsychotic measure, on the expression of NMDA receptor subunit proteins in the rat hippocampus. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given 1, 5, or 10 consecutive daily ECS and the amounts of NR1, NR2A, and NR2B in the hippocampus were assessed by the immunoblot analysis. RESULTS: The expression levels of NR1 and NR2A subunits were found positively correlated with the number of treatment. However, there was no evidence of NR2B regulation by ECS. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest the action of ECS in the regulation of the NMDA receptor, and hence in the regulation of synaptic plasticity.
Animals ; Brain ; Electroshock* ; Hippocampus* ; Humans ; Male ; N-Methylaspartate* ; Phosphorylation ; Plastics ; Rats* ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley