PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and nursing practice of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses. METHODS: Survey methodology using a self administered questionnaire was employed as the research design. A total of 153 questionnaires from 7 university hospital NICUs in Seoul, Daejeon, and Daegu were used for data analysis. RESULTS: The percentage of correct answers on the breastfeeding knowledge questions for the NICU nurses was 59.3%. The nurses in NICU reported a somewhat positive attitude to breastfeeding, mean per item 3.70+/-0.41 on a scale of 5 points. Their breastfeeding nursing practice was at a moderate level, mean per item, 3.26+/-0.74. Breastfeeding knowledge had significant correlations with breastfeeding attitude (r=.554, p<.001) and nursing practice (r=.203, p=.002). Also, There was a significant correlation between breastfeeding attitude and nursing practice (r=.243, p=.002). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that breastfeeding educational programs and strategies for NICU nurses should be developed to increase their breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, and nursing practice.
Breast Feeding ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Infant, Newborn ; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal ; Intensive Care, Neonatal ; Nursing, Practical ; Research Design ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore maternal physical activity support for preschool children. METHODS: Survey methodology using a self-administered questionnaire was employed. Mothers with preschool children from a daycare center in Daejeon participated in the study. One hundred and fifty-six questionnaires were analyzed. RESULTS: Mothers with preschool children showed a moderate level of physical activity support for their children. Significant factors affecting physical activity support of mothers were monthly household income (beta=.417, p=.002), maternal self-efficacy for physical activity support (beta=.231, p=.003), information for physical activity support (beta=.173, p=.022), and experience of education about physical activity support (beta=.237, p=.002). These variables explained 26.4% of the variance in physical activity support (F=7.628, p<.001). CONCLUSION: To improve maternal support for increasing physical activity of preschool children, maternal education and appropriate information should be provided to improve self-efficacy for physical activity support.
Child ; Child, Preschool* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Methods ; Mothers ; Motor Activity* ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Background: There are differences in risk and risk factor findings of postpartum type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) after gestational diabetes depending on study design and subjects of previous studies. This study aimed to assess these risk and risk factors more accurately through a population-based study to provide basic data for prevention strategies. Methods: This open retrospective cohort included data of 419,101 women with gestational diabetes and matched 1,228,802 control women who delivered between 2004 and 2016 from the South Korea National Health Information Database of the National Health Insurance Service. Following 14 (median 5.9) years of follow-up, the incidence and hazard ratio (HR) of postpartum T2DM were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional regression models. Results: The incidence and HR of postpartum T2DM in women with gestational diabetes (compared to women without gestational diabetes) after the 14-year follow-up was 21.3% and 2.78 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.74 to 2.82), respectively. Comorbid obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥25 kg/m2) increased postpartum T2DM risk 7.59 times (95% CI, 7.33 to 7.86). Significant risk factors for postpartum T2DM were fasting glucose level, BMI, age, family history of diabetes, hypertension, and insulin use during pregnancy. Conclusion This population-based study showed higher postpartum T2DM risk in women with gestational diabetes than in those without, which was further increased by comorbid obesity. BMI and fasting glucose level were important postpartum risk factors. The management of obesity and glycemic control may be important strategies to prevent the incidence of diabetes after delivery.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is currently used as a degreasing agent in the jewelry manufacturing industry. The characteristic sign arising after the exposure of TCE are hepatitis and contact dermatitis. The incidence of toxicity is relatively rare, therefore, the mechanism of occurrence is considered as hypersensitivity. A previously healthy 21-year-old male began to work at jewelry industry. The solvent used in that place was TCE. Over the next month, he experienced symptoms of weakness, fever, dry skin, red rash and bumps, peeling face, and jaundice. At that time, he had marked liver enzyme elevation with evidence of cholestasis. After two weeks of avoidance of TCE exposure, his liver enzymes showed a marked reduction in ALT from a peak of 1132 to 131 IU/L. The total bilirubin reduced from 9.3 to 4.6 mg/dL. Tests for hepatitis A, B, and C, CMV, HIV were all negative. The patch test showed primary irritant reaction to TCE and its metabolite, trichloroethanol. This is the second report of TCE induced hepatotoxicity in Korea. We consider this case as a TCE induced hepatotoxicity due to possibly hypersensitivity mechanism.
Bilirubin ; Cholestasis ; Dermatitis, Contact ; Exanthema ; Fever ; Hepatitis A ; Hepatitis* ; HIV ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Incidence ; Jaundice ; Jewelry ; Korea ; Liver ; Male ; Occupational Exposure* ; Patch Tests ; Skin ; Trichloroethylene ; Young Adult

The purpose of this study was to examine consumers' behaviors toward ready-to-eat foods and to develop ready-to-eat food market segmentation in Korea. The food-related lifestyle and purchase behaviors of ready-to-eat foods were evaluated using 410 ready-to-eat food consumers in the Republic of Korea. Four factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis (health-orientation, taste-orientation, convenience-orientation, and tradition-orientation) to explain the ready-to eat food consumers' food-related lifestyles. The results of cluster analysis indicated that "tradition seekers" and "convenience seekers" should be regarded as the target segments. Chi-square tests and t-tests of the subdivided groups showed there were significant differences across marital status, education level, family type, eating-out expenditure, place of purchase, and reason for purchase. In conclusion, the tradition seekers consumed more ready-to-eat foods from discount marts or specialty stores and ate them between meals more often than the convenience seekers. In contrast, the convenience seekers purchased more ready-to-eat foods at convenience stores and ate them as meals more often than the tradition seekers. These findings suggest that ready-to-eat food market segmentation based on food-related lifestyles can be applied to develop proper marketing strategies.
Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Hypogonadism ; Korea ; Life Style ; Marital Status ; Marketing ; Meals ; Mitochondrial Diseases ; Ophthalmoplegia ; Republic of Korea

No abstract available.
Cesarean Section* ; Fascia* ; Female ; Pregnancy

Recently, we have experienced with various changes in the health insurance. Korean government is implementing the prospective payment system(PPS) as a pilot project to reduce medical expenditure. Case management is an effective way to reduce costs, while not sacrificing quality of service, under the PPS. In this study, the integrated decision support system(DSS) for case management was presented to support two case management activities ; utilization management and discharge planning. This system can be used in three ways ; prospective, concurrent, and retrospective management. By monitoring cases from medical record database, the DSS provides basic patient information, payment information, medical service information to the case manager. In the future, data warehouse should be introduced to integrate various databases related to case management and to improve quality of information produced by the DSS.
Case Management* ; Cesarean Section* ; Critical Pathways ; Diagnosis-Related Groups* ; Female ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Medical Records ; Patient Discharge ; Pilot Projects ; Pregnancy

Background: A cervical transforaminal epidural (TFE) steroid injection is a useful treatment option for cervical radicular pain, but it carries a small risk of catastrophic complications.Several studies have reported that cervical facet joint (FJ) steroid injection can reduce cervical radicular pain through an indirect epidural spread. The aim of this retrospective comparative study was to evaluate the pain scores and functional disability in subjects receiving cervical FJ or TFE steroid injection for the treatment of cervical radicular pain due to foraminal stenosis (FS). Methods: We selected 278 patients 18 years of age and older who underwent cervical FJ (n = 130) or TFE (n= 148) steroid injection for cervical radicular pain. The primary outcomes included pain scores and functional disability during hospital visits one, three, and six months after the initial injection. Secondary outcomes were the proportion of responders and Medication Quantification Scale (MQS) scores. Adverse events and variables correlating with effectiveness one month after the initial injection were also evaluated. Results: The Numeric Rating Scale and Neck Disability Index scores showed a significant improvement one, three, and six months after the initial injection in both groups, with no significant differences between the groups. No significant differences were observed in the success rates of the procedure one, three, and six months after the initial injection for either group. There were no significant differences in MQS between the groups during the followup period. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that the injection method, age, sex, number of injections, FS severity, MQS, pain duration, and the presence of cervical disc herniation were not independent predictors of treatment success. Conclusion The efficacy of FJ steroid injection may not be inferior to that of TFE steroid injection in patients with cervical radicular pain due to FS.

There is a dearth of Korean studies on dehydration, one of the health risks for adult women. This study analyzed the subjects of the 2016∼2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) to investigate the relationship between nutrient intake ratios and sedentary time in dehydrated women. Body mass index and waist circumference in the dehydrated group (DG) were significantly higher than the normal group (NG). Intake of other liquids in the DG was significantly higher than in the NG, but total water intake in the DG was significantly lower than in the NG. Compared to the 600 sedentary minutes or more per day group, the odds ratio of dehydration was significantly higher in the less than 300 sedentary minutes per day group (1.871 [95% CI: 1.579∼2.215], P＜0.001). Compared to the drinking over 6.0 cups of water per day group, the odds ratio of dehydration was significantly higher in the 3 cups or fewer per day (OR [95% CI] is 1.198 times [1.019 to 1.408], P＜0.05), and 6.0 cups or fewer group (OR [95% CI] is 1.162 times [1.018 to 1.326], P＜0.05). The results of this study showed that the total water intake was relatively lower in the ≥600 sedentary minutes per day group compared to the 300 sedentary minutes per day group, making them more vulnerable to dehydration. The nutrient intake ratios were higher in the dehydration group than in the normal group. In conclusion, emphasis should be placed on the importance of hydration and nutrition education for adult women in the workplace.

BACKGROUND: Renin is secreted from the juxtaglomerular (JG) cells in response to a wide variety of extracellular stimuli. To study the underlying mechanism of regulation of renin secretion at molecular level, pure JG cell lines (As 4.1) cloned from renal JG tumor was used. In this study, to explore the feasibility of As 4.1 cells as an in vitro model for renin secretion, the changes of renin secretion from As 4.1 in culture during cell cycle were characterized. METHODS: To address this issue, As 4.1s were synchronized in G0, G1, S, G2, early M and late M phase during experiment. RESULTS: The rate of renin secretion was above 1 ng AI/well/hr in G0, G2/M and early mitotic phase and 0.5 ng AI/well/hr in G1, G1/S, S and late mitotic phase. ML-7 (6x10(-5) M), an inhibitor of MLCK which is known to stimulate renin secretion, increased the rate of renin secretion much greater in G1, G1/S, S and late M phase than the other phases; in particular, in early mitotic phase it had no stimulation. On the other hand, the rate of renin secretion was not influenced through out cell cycles by calyculin A, an inhibitor of type 1 protein phosphatase. Forskolin, an activator of adenlyate cyclase resulting in an elevation of intracellular cyclic AMP, stimulated renin secretion only in S phase in a concentration dependent manner. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that As 4.1 cells in culture secrete active renin in much the similar manner to JG cells in situ but its rate varies during each phase of the cell cycle. Thus As 4.1 cells can be utilized as an in vitro model for renin secretion. But, changes in the rate of renin secretion and the secretory responses to stimulators or inhibitors during cell cycle must be considered in conducting experiments to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanism of the renin secretion.
Cell Cycle* ; Cell Division ; Cell Line ; Clone Cells ; Colforsin ; Cyclic AMP ; Hand ; Renin* ; S Phase