PURPOSE: This study of this study was to identify factors influencing the burden of main family caregivers who take care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases. METHODS: This was conducted as descriptive research and data were collected from 255 main family caregivers who were taking care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases from 4 hospitals in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province. Stepwise-multiple regression was used to identify the influencing factors of burden felt. RESULTS: As the score of burden felt by the main family, economic, social, physical, interdependent and emotional burdens were high in order. Factors influencing burden felt by main family care givers taking care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases were changed relation with patient after hospitalization, daily life ability, marital status, education and family caregiver's personality (explanatory power of 24.6%). Family caregivers felt a heavier burden when their relation with the patient was changed negatively or when the patient's activity of daily living was low. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, we need to develop coping measures and interventional programs for reducing the burden felt by the main family caregivers of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases.
Aged* ; Brain Diseases ; Brain* ; Caregivers* ; Cost of Illness ; Daegu ; Education ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Life ; Marital Status ; Spinal Diseases*

PURPOSE: This study of this study was to identify factors influencing the burden of main family caregivers who take care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases. METHODS: This was conducted as descriptive research and data were collected from 255 main family caregivers who were taking care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases from 4 hospitals in Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province. Stepwise-multiple regression was used to identify the influencing factors of burden felt. RESULTS: As the score of burden felt by the main family, economic, social, physical, interdependent and emotional burdens were high in order. Factors influencing burden felt by main family care givers taking care of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases were changed relation with patient after hospitalization, daily life ability, marital status, education and family caregiver's personality (explanatory power of 24.6%). Family caregivers felt a heavier burden when their relation with the patient was changed negatively or when the patient's activity of daily living was low. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, we need to develop coping measures and interventional programs for reducing the burden felt by the main family caregivers of elderly patients with brain and spinal diseases.
Aged* ; Brain Diseases ; Brain* ; Caregivers* ; Cost of Illness ; Daegu ; Education ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Life ; Marital Status ; Spinal Diseases*

PURPOSE: This study used MDS-HC 2.0 to identify health problems in the elderly who live alone. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 100 living-alone elders aged over 65 in Daegu city. This study was performed through home visiting interviews during the period from the 1st of September to the 30th of September 2005. Analysis in this study was made using SPSS Version 11.0. RESULTS: Frequent health problems in the living-alone elderly were: preventive heath measure (90), health promotion (80), social function (78), visual function (75), depression and anxiety (61), pain and communication disorder (60), cognition (55), environmental assessment (48) and oral health (45) in order of frequency. Informal services were provided to 73% of the subjects for emotional support. IADL services were provided to 57% of the subjects, and ADL services to 66%. CONCLUSION: Nursing intervention programs based on health problems from MDS-HC 2.0 should be provided in order to cope with individual health problems and living-alone elders needs. The results of this study suggest that MDS-HC 2.0 is applicable to help decide nursing interventions for the elderly who live alone in community.
Activities of Daily Living ; Aged* ; Anxiety ; Cognition ; Communication Disorders ; Daegu ; Depression ; Health Promotion ; House Calls ; Humans ; Nursing ; Oral Health

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify nursing professional values and job satisfaction depending on the types of personality in visiting nurses. METHODS: Two hundred twenty six visiting nurses participated in this study. Data collection was conducted in 26 Public Health Centers in Korea. The Korean version of the Enneagram nursing professional values and job satisfaction was used to measure the nursing professional values and job satisfaction. RESULTS: The most common personality is type 9, a center of the Instinctive Center where energy tends to stress outwards. There was a significant difference in nursing professional values depending on the type of personality. The type 1, 2 and type 9 had a significant difference by depending on the type of personality. There was but no difference in job satisfaction. There was a negative correlation between nursing professional values and job satisfaction by depending on the type of personality. The nurses with the type 9 and type 1 of personality showed a significant differences with the negative correlation between professional values and job satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed the necessity of a self-understanding program to improve the working efficiency by increasing the professional values and job satisfaction of visiting nurses.
Community Health Nursing ; Data Collection ; Instinct ; Job Satisfaction ; Korea ; Public Health

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify nursing professional values and job satisfaction depending on the types of personality in visiting nurses. METHODS: Two hundred twenty six visiting nurses participated in this study. Data collection was conducted in 26 Public Health Centers in Korea. The Korean version of the Enneagram nursing professional values and job satisfaction was used to measure the nursing professional values and job satisfaction. RESULTS: The most common personality is type 9, a center of the Instinctive Center where energy tends to stress outwards. There was a significant difference in nursing professional values depending on the type of personality. The type 1, 2 and type 9 had a significant difference by depending on the type of personality. There was but no difference in job satisfaction. There was a negative correlation between nursing professional values and job satisfaction by depending on the type of personality. The nurses with the type 9 and type 1 of personality showed a significant differences with the negative correlation between professional values and job satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed the necessity of a self-understanding program to improve the working efficiency by increasing the professional values and job satisfaction of visiting nurses.
Community Health Nursing ; Data Collection ; Instinct ; Job Satisfaction ; Korea ; Public Health

PURPOSE: This study was carried out to investigate the relationships among suicidal risk, self-esteem, and spiritual well-being of high school students, and to provide basic data for developing suicide prevention programs. METHOD: The subjects of this study were 1.176 high school students from six academic high schools and two technical high schools in Daegu City. Data were collected from the 13th to the 25th of September 2004. The research tools were the Suicide Probability Scale developed by Go. Kim and Lee (2000), the Self-Esteem Inventory modified by Choi and Jeon (1993), and the tool of Spiritual Well-Being modified by Yoo (2002). Data were analyzed with SPSS Windows 11.0. RESULT: Variables that showed statistically significant difference in suicidal risk were school type, whether to have the best friends, the number of close friends, current relationship with close friends, experience of school violation, respect for the teacher, grades, financial condition, parents marital status, father's education level, mother's education level, home atmosphere, conversation with father, conversation with mother, smoking, drinking, experience of counseling for problems, whether to have physical illnesses, experience of thinking about suicide, experience of attempting suicide. Suicidal risk was in a significantly negative correlation with self-esteem and spiritual well-being. CONCLUSION: The researcher identified many different variables that affect the suicidal risk of high school students. Self-esteem and spiritual well-being were found to be in a significant correlation with suicidal risk. Therefore, the results of this study can be used as basic data and information for suicidal prevention programs.
Atmosphere ; Counseling ; Daegu ; Drinking ; Education ; Fathers ; Friends ; Humans ; Marital Status ; Mothers ; Parents ; Self Concept ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Spirituality ; Suicide ; Thinking

The purpose of this study was to investigate the inhibitory role of vitamin A with respect to activation of Ito cells in fibrosis of the rat liver induced by common bile duct ligation(CBDL). The liver was examined by immunohistochemical staining for a-smooth muscle actin,the known marker of activated Ito cells, and light and electron microscopy after CBDL andCBDL with intraperitoneal injection of retinoic acid (Sigma, USA) 1 mg/Kg in 3 times per week. The results were sumrrlerized as follows: After CBDL, the bile ductules were markedly proliferated in the periportal areas extending toterminal hepatic veins. Interstitial fibrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration appeared, however,cholestasis was minimal. Retinoic acid treatment with CBDL decreased bile ductular proliferationand interstitial fibrosis compared to CBDL only. After CBDL, proliferated and activated Ito ceIs showing positive reaction in smooth muscle actin were present in the periductular andperisinusoidal areas, and areas of increased interstitial fibrosis. Activated ito cells weredecreased in number after CBDL with vitamin A treatment. Electron microscopically,intracytoplasmic fat droplets and the cytoplasmic processes of Ito cells were decreased afterCBDL. Myofibroblasts were frequently appeared in the interstitial fibrosis after CBDL. But,intracytoplasmic fat droplets of Ito cells were well preserved, and myofibroblasts were found lessfrequently after CBDL with vitamin A treatment. The results suggest that vitamin A plays an inbitory role in the activation and fibrogenesis ofIto cells after CBDL.
Rats ; Animals

A 51-year-old man had small, tender, skin colored firm nodule on the helix of the both ears for eight months. He was found to have classic features of chondrodermatitis nodularis chronica helicis, namely, tender nodule less than 1 cm in length with central crusting, localization to helix, age, men, and histologic findings. The histologic examination of the biopsy specimen showed the presence of thinned epiderrnis on center. acanthosis on the adjacent epidermis, with hyperkeratosis and parakeratosis, and cleft between epidermis and dermis. In the dermis, highly vascularized connective tissue and chronic inflarnmatory infiltrate were visible with perichondrial fibrosis. Elastic tissue stain showed degeneration of elastic fibers. After complete excision, no recurrence was obsered until now.
Biopsy ; Connective Tissue ; Dermis ; Ear ; Elastic Tissue ; Epidermis ; Fibrosis ; Humans ; Hypertrichosis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Parakeratosis ; Recurrence ; Skin

OBJECTIVES: The purpose was to test the effect of an empowerment health management program on self-esteem and the quality of life for the elderly who live in cities. METHODS: Forty-three elders were randomly assigned to either the experimental group that received the intervention to participate in one year's empowerment practice (one home visiting per week and phone counselling) (n=21) or to the control group that got home visiting only (n=22). The data was analyzed using ANCOVA. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the self-esteem score between the two groups after the intervention. But the quality of life score of the experimental group was significantly different from that of the control group after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The health management intervention using empowerment for the elderly living alone with chronic diseases in urban areas had positive effects on the quality of life. Therefore this intervention can be broadly applied to other elders living alone with chronic diseases in urban areas.
Aged* ; Chronic Disease ; House Calls ; Humans ; Power (Psychology)* ; Quality of Life* ; Self Concept

We reviewed surgical specimens from 11 patients with diffuse neurofibroma to define the specific clinicopathologic characteristics. Ten cases were cutaneous neurofibromas and one case was an uncommon gastrointestinal neurofibroma involving the rectum. The most frequent sites of involvement were the head and neck, especially the eyelids and the periorbital areas. They usually presented as a plaque-like elevation of the skin. They primarily occured in children and young adults and positive family histories of von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis were obtained in 45.4%. Pathologically, the involved skin & rectum were diffusely thickened by an infiltrative growing mass, showing proliferation of short fusiform cells in the uniform matrix of fine fibrillary collagen. The characteristic prominence of Wagner-Meissner bodies (45.4%) suggests they could be associated with pathogenesis of diffuse neurofibroma. On the basis of these findings, we could confirm diffuse neurofibroma to be a distinct form of neurofibroma.
Child ; Adult ; Male ; Female ; Humans