No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans ; Infant* ; Mothers* ; Pregnancy*

Pathogenetic mechanisms of progressive glomerulosclerosis are not clear. We studied the long-term(10 weeks) effects of puromycin aminonucleoside(PAN) in Sprague-Dawley rats with or without uninephrectomy(UN). Compared to rats with PAN injections only, rats with uninephrectomy and PAN injections showed significantly higher serum levels of urea nitrogen(153 +/- 155 mg/dl vs. 16 +/- 4 mg/dl, p<0.01), ceatinine(2.96 +/- 1.21 mg/dl vs. 0.92 +/- 0.36 mg/dl, p<0.01), cholesterol(466 +/- 125 mg/dl vs. 94 +/- 27 mg/dl, p<0.01), and triglyceride(337 +/- 237 mg/dl vs. 111 +/- 36 mg/dl, p<0.05) as well as increased amounts of proteinuria(428 +/- 90 mg/day vs. 136 +/- 130 mg/day, p<0.01). Lesions of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis(FSGS) were more frequently observed in rats with UN and PAN injections than rats with PAN infections only(39.5 +/- 17.2% vs. 4.3 +/- 4.7%, p<0.01). Ultrastructural examination of the glomeruli from rats with UN and PAN injections revealed severe epithelial cell changes including foot process effacement, vaculoar change or pseudocyst formation and focal detachment of epithelial cells from the underlying basement membrane. The results suggest that chronic nephrosis induced by PAN showed functional and morphologic features similar to those of human FSGS. Cytotoxic effect of PAN on the glomerular epithelial cells may be an initiating factor for the development of FSGS. which may be aggravated by some hemodynamic changes induced by uninephrectomy.
Humans ; Rats ; Animals

There have been a few reports suggesting that the imune response to pulmonary tuberculosis provides the appropriate setting for the development of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). To define better the relation between pulmonary tuberculosis and IgAN, we evaluated the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis among 386 Korean patients with IgAN. Seventeen cases (4.4%) showed abnormal chest X-ray findings suggestive of pulmonary tuberculosis. Ten patients were male and seven were female. Only one case was a child. Urinary abnormalities were detected during the course of antituberculous medication in 11 patients, and after completion of chemotherapy in 2. Chest abnormalities were noted in the remaining 4 patient after IgAN had been diagnosed. Clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis was made mainly based on the chest X-ray findings, but sputum Acid-Fast Bacilli were detected in one patient and pulmonary granulomo was noted in 2. The patients presented various clinical manifestations such as gross hematuris (5 cases), nephrotic syndrome (5 cases), asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (4 cases) and pyuris (1 case) at time of biopsy. Histologic grading of the glomerular lesions was made with modified Meadow classification (1972): one had grade I lesion, 8 grade II, 5 GRADE III and 3 showed grade IV. Follow-up studies were made in 7 patients. Six showed resolution of urinary abnormalities after completion f antituberculous medication, while one pursued chronic renal failure 20 days after the onset. The above clinical and morphologic features suggest that pulmonary tuberculosis may be partly related to the occurrence of IgAN in some Korean patients.
Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans ; Follow-Up Studies

This study examined the types of touch received by elderly patients from nurses, and explored the elderly patient' and nurses' perceptions of touch occurring during nursing activities. Non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews were the methods employed for data collection. The study subjects were composed of 24 nurses of the three medical wards, and their 83 elderly patients who were hospitalized at S Hospital in Seoul from February 15th to March 15th in 1996. The Observation Schedule, the Perception of Touch Instrument, and the Patient classification were study instruments. The most common types of touch occurring during the nurse-elderly patient interactions were : task touch(82.9%), caring touch(4.9%), and concurrent type of touch (12.2%). The mean score of the elderly patients' perception of touch was higher at 30.45(range 5-35)compared to the mean score of the nurses' perception of touch which was 23.01(range 5-35). Elderly patients received the nurses' touch much more positively than the nurses. But the two scores were not significantly correlated(r=.06, 29). The elderly patient's touch perception score was higher(p<.05) in the group that was touched upon approach than the group was touched later. Elderly patients preferred caring touch to task touch, but it was not significant. Nurses' touch perception scores were higher(p<.05) for female than male. Elderly patients felt most comfortable when the nurses administered the touch on their painful site.
Aged ; Appointments and Schedules ; Classification ; Data Collection ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Nursing ; Seoul ; Touch Perception

No abstract available.
Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome* ; Thrombocytopenia*

Fungi have been recognized as a significant cause of external otitis and it may be the primary pathogen or be part of a mixed infection. In the immunocompromised host, fungus is capable of producing infection in inner ear or middle ear. Otomycoses are most frequently caused by Aspergillus spp. and Candida sap. There are few reports that Aspergillus species other than A. fumigatus, A. niger and f. flavus have caused chronic otitis media. We report two cases of chronic otitis media caused by Aspergillus ferrous in Korea. One case is a 7-year-old girl who had recurrent serous otorrhea and otalgia for 4 years, was reattended otolaryngology clinics with otorrhea of 3 days durations and another is a 6-year-old girl who had serous otorrhea for 2 months and 3 day fever, was attended otolaryngology clinics with them. Microscopic appearance and colony morphology from ear discharge cultures revealed A. ferrous. The infection responded well to topical ketoconazole therapy. This report should help to raise medical personnel's awareness of such human opportunistic fungal ear infections.
Aspergillus* ; Candida ; Child ; Coinfection ; Ear ; Ear, Inner ; Ear, Middle ; Earache ; Female ; Fever ; Fungi ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Ketoconazole ; Korea ; Niger ; Otitis Externa ; Otitis Media* ; Otitis* ; Otolaryngology ; Otomycosis

Rapid progress in modern medical technology has made it possible to sustain life and/or delay death using 'heroic' treatments. The availability of life-sustaining treatment brings several issues in end-of-life care such as 'dying with dignity' and an radical increase in health care costs. The use of Advance Directives(AD) have been widely heralded by health care providers, gerontologists, and advocacy groups as means of protecting patients' right to accept or refuse life-sustaining treatment in end-of-life care. The use of AD can not only improve patients' autonomy and quality of life but also bring efficiency in distributing health care resources. The proportion of older persons in Korean population has been increasing. Those 65 years of age or over were about 7 percent of the population. Death and dying is not limited to older persons, but it is more prevalent among them. In conjunction with an aging population and the increasing prevalence of death, the issues of death and dying will become crucial in near future in terms of 'dying with dignity', 'autonomy', and 'self-control'. This paper attempts to explode and establish the concept of advance directives (AD) based on literature review. Data sources are computer searches with the MEDLINE database. Due to the lack of prior study on AD for a Korean cases, studies abroad are reviewed. This paper suggests the need for future study on the possibility of the use of AD in Korea.
Advance Directives* ; Aging ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Delivery of Health Care ; Health Care Costs ; Health Personnel ; Humans ; Korea ; Patient Rights ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life

The aim of the study was to explore the current status as well as personal views, attitudes, and beliefs regarding daily meal consumption (DM) and food supplement use (FS) in conjunction with the improvement of health condition of the women. Eight focus group interviews were performed and the interview material was condensed systematically with the aim to extract core meanings related to DM, FS, and menopause-associated health. Participants were 40 in number and showed ages ranging from 45 and 60 years with various menopausal status. Current status and beliefs about DM, resources of purchase motivation of FS, types of FS that are currently used, and perceived effects and personal beliefs about FS are discussed. Theme content analysis revealed 3 themes for beliefs about DM, 5 themes for beliefs pertaining FS, and 4 themes for the association between DM and FS. Non-dietary factors such as positive mental attitude and exercise appeared to be also important to maintain good health. The bottom line message from this study may be that proper nutrition through daily meals is essential for good health, while food supplement are used merely to supplement the diet. Findings from this study may deepen our understanding of how women who translate their lifespan through "menopause" perceive the roles and meaning of DM and FS, suggesting health professionals need to monitor and evaluate DM and implement strategies targeting the improvement of daily meal quality of middle and older aged women.
Aged ; Climacteric ; Diet ; Dietary Supplements ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Health Occupations ; Humans ; Meals ; Motivation ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of taping therapy on activities of daily livings (ADL). hand function and range of motion in poststroke-hemiplegic patients. Sample were selected from 20 poststroke-hemiplegic patients at public health center in the period from September 5 to November 21, 2001. The research design was one group pretest-posttest design. The hemiplegia period of the participants was from one year to five years The pretest and posttest included measuring activity of daily livings(ADL). instrumental activity of daily livings(IADL), hand function, range of motion. quality of life. In this research design, a treatment were to expose taping therapy who were received self-help management program. This self-help management program was cor:1Posed of five sessions and each session had health education on stroke. diet. risk factor. ROM exercise and recreation. 20 patients were treated with kinesio taping(Nippon Sigmax Co.. Ltd.. Benefact(r). width 50mm). Tapes were applied to the Deltoid. Supraspinatus. Infraspinatus, Brachioradialis with paralyzed upper extremity. The taping therapy was performed once a week for 5 weeks. SPSS Win 8.0 was used for the data analysis. The results of this study were as follows: 1) The score of BADL was increased from 30.5 to 33.95 after program, and that was statistically significant(p = .019). 2) The score of IADL was increased from 11.6 to 12.75 after program. but that was statistically insignificant(p = .161). 3) The score of hand function was increased from 17 to 20.35 after program. and that was statistically significant(p = .026). 4) The shoulder's ROM(p=.000) and wrist's ROM(p= .004) were significantly increased. According to the results of this study, taping therapy is effective for improving ADL. hand function. ROM. quality of life. However. this study found no significant differences in IADL Consequently. these findings showed that the taping therapy was effective in improvement of physical aspects(BADL, hand function, upper extremity's ROM) in poststroke-hemiplegic patients.
Activities of Daily Living* ; Diet ; Hand* ; Health Education ; Hemiplegia ; Humans ; Public Health ; Quality of Life* ; Range of Motion, Articular* ; Recreation ; Research Design ; Risk Factors ; Statistics as Topic ; Stroke* ; Upper Extremity

No abstract available.