PURPOSE: This study was conducted to identify the influence of nurse manager and peer group caring behaviors as perceived by nurses on intention to retention. METHODS: The participants for this study were 229 nurses who had worked for over 6 months in general hospitals located in J province. Survey data were analyzed descriptive statistics and t-tests, ANOVAs with Scheffé's post-hoc testing, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression analysis. RESULTS: The scores for ‘manager and peer group caring behaviors’ and intention to retention were all at a moderate level, although the subjects perceived ‘peer group caring behaviors’ as higher compared to ‘manager caring behaviors’. There were significant differences in ‘manager caring behaviors’ scores by suitability for present working department and employment status and in ‘peer group caring behaviors’ scores by suitability for present working department. The factors influencing nurses' intention to retention were religion, suitability for present department, clinical experience of over ten years, ‘manager caring behaviors’, and ‘peer group caring behaviors’ CONCLUSION: To improve nurses' intention to retention, it may be necessary to alter the transfer and arrangement strategies of their working environments to better consider nurses' aptitude and competence, and thereby increase both manager and peer group caring behaviors.
Aptitude ; Employment ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Intention* ; Mental Competency ; Nurse Administrators* ; Peer Group*

To examine the expressed gene profile during encystation of Acanthamoeba castellanii Castellani, we used differentially expressed gene (DGE) screening by RT-PCR with 20 sets of random primers. From this analysis, we found that approximately 16 genes showed upregulation during encystation. We chose 6 genes, which had relatively higher expression levels, for further investigation. Based on homology search in database, DEG2 showed 55% of similarity with xylose isomerase, DEG9 showed 37% of similarity with Na P-type ATPase, and DEG14 showed 77% of similarity with subtilisin-like serine proteinase. DEG3 and DEG26 were identified as hypothetical proteins and DEG25 exhibited no significant similarity to any known protein. Encystation of Acanthamoeba has been suggested to be a process to resist adverse environmental or nutritional conditions. Further characterization studies of these genes may provide us with more information on the encystation mechanism of Acanthamoeba.
Acanthamoeba castellanii/*genetics/*growth & development ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; *Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation ; *Life Cycle Stages ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Protozoan Proteins/*genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Alignment ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Up-Regulation

Purpose: This study aimed to define and clarify the concept of colleague solidarity experienced by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A hybrid model method was used to investigate the dimensions, attributes, and definitions of the concept. In the theoretical phase, 20 articles selected through literature review by including nursing and related disciplines were analyzed. For the fieldwork phase, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine nurses who took care of infected patients with COVID-19 at Infectious Diseases Specialized Hospital. Results: The dimensions identified were consistently observed in the field phase, however, more attributes were found newly from the fieldwork phase. In the final phase, the concept of colleague solidarity among the nurses was found to have three dimensions with nine attributes. The interaction dimension had four attributes as voluntary support, mutual respect, open communication, and virtuous circle. The motivation dimension had two attributes of sense of communion and calling. Lastly, the relationship dimension had three attributes of unity, mutually equal relationship, and comradeship. Conclusions This study is meaningful in observing how the concept of colleague solidarity, which is relatively unfamiliar to domestic nurses, appears in the clinical field during a national crisis and analyzing the concept.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a colleague solidarity scale for nurses and to verify its validity and reliability. Methods: Initial items were extracted through an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with twelve clinical nurses. These items were subjected to content validity testing by ten experts and face validity testing by five nurses.Subsequently, the final tool was developed using a validity and reliability test comprising 53 preliminary items. Survey data were collected from 548 hospital nurses. Results: In the exploratory factor analysis, four factors and 33 items were selected, yielding a total cumulative variance ratio of 66.7%. Through the confirmatory factor analysis, the final tool consisting of 4 factors and 31 items was developed. The factors were as follows: “mutually beneficial community,” “nurse identity.” “rigid organizational experience,” and “supportive interaction.” These factors were verified through convergent and discriminant validity testing. The internal consistency reliability was acceptable (Cronbach’s ⍺= .94). Conclusion This tool can serve as the basis for developing programs and strategies to strengthen solidarity among nurses by identifying the current level of colleague solidarity among hospital nurses and enhancing their understanding of it.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a colleague solidarity scale for nurses and to verify its validity and reliability. Methods: Initial items were extracted through an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with twelve clinical nurses. These items were subjected to content validity testing by ten experts and face validity testing by five nurses.Subsequently, the final tool was developed using a validity and reliability test comprising 53 preliminary items. Survey data were collected from 548 hospital nurses. Results: In the exploratory factor analysis, four factors and 33 items were selected, yielding a total cumulative variance ratio of 66.7%. Through the confirmatory factor analysis, the final tool consisting of 4 factors and 31 items was developed. The factors were as follows: “mutually beneficial community,” “nurse identity.” “rigid organizational experience,” and “supportive interaction.” These factors were verified through convergent and discriminant validity testing. The internal consistency reliability was acceptable (Cronbach’s ⍺= .94). Conclusion This tool can serve as the basis for developing programs and strategies to strengthen solidarity among nurses by identifying the current level of colleague solidarity among hospital nurses and enhancing their understanding of it.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a colleague solidarity scale for nurses and to verify its validity and reliability. Methods: Initial items were extracted through an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with twelve clinical nurses. These items were subjected to content validity testing by ten experts and face validity testing by five nurses.Subsequently, the final tool was developed using a validity and reliability test comprising 53 preliminary items. Survey data were collected from 548 hospital nurses. Results: In the exploratory factor analysis, four factors and 33 items were selected, yielding a total cumulative variance ratio of 66.7%. Through the confirmatory factor analysis, the final tool consisting of 4 factors and 31 items was developed. The factors were as follows: “mutually beneficial community,” “nurse identity.” “rigid organizational experience,” and “supportive interaction.” These factors were verified through convergent and discriminant validity testing. The internal consistency reliability was acceptable (Cronbach’s ⍺= .94). Conclusion This tool can serve as the basis for developing programs and strategies to strengthen solidarity among nurses by identifying the current level of colleague solidarity among hospital nurses and enhancing their understanding of it.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a colleague solidarity scale for nurses and to verify its validity and reliability. Methods: Initial items were extracted through an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with twelve clinical nurses. These items were subjected to content validity testing by ten experts and face validity testing by five nurses.Subsequently, the final tool was developed using a validity and reliability test comprising 53 preliminary items. Survey data were collected from 548 hospital nurses. Results: In the exploratory factor analysis, four factors and 33 items were selected, yielding a total cumulative variance ratio of 66.7%. Through the confirmatory factor analysis, the final tool consisting of 4 factors and 31 items was developed. The factors were as follows: “mutually beneficial community,” “nurse identity.” “rigid organizational experience,” and “supportive interaction.” These factors were verified through convergent and discriminant validity testing. The internal consistency reliability was acceptable (Cronbach’s ⍺= .94). Conclusion This tool can serve as the basis for developing programs and strategies to strengthen solidarity among nurses by identifying the current level of colleague solidarity among hospital nurses and enhancing their understanding of it.

PURPOSE: This paper was conducted to validate the Korean version of the Peer Group Caring Interaction Scale (PGCIS-K) that measures caring behaviors as experienced by nursing students. METHODS: Translation of the PGCIS-K was validated through forward-backward translation methods. Survey data were collected from 218 nursing students in a nursing school. Construct validity and criterion-related validity were evaluated. Internal consistency and the Guttman split-half coefficient were calculated to assess reliability. RESULTS: The PGIS-K showed reliability except for 4 items (Cronbach's α=.91, Guttman split-half coefficient=.85), which were low (<.30) or negatively correlated with the total scale. A 12-item reduced form of the PGCIS-K was developed by item-analysis and construct validity evidence. Factor loading for the 12 items on 2 factors ranged from .47~.82, which explained 58.4% of the total variance. Two factors were named 'modeling and assistance (Cronbach's α=.87)' and 'communication and sharing (Cronbach's α=.82)'. Convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion validity were supported according to the correlation coefficients of the 2 factors with other measure. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest preliminary evidence that the 12-item PGCIS-K can be used to measure nursing students' peer group caring interactions in Korea. Additional studies are recommended to continue the psychometric evaluation of this scale. Also, it can be extended to measure graduate nursing students or staff nurses' peer group caring interaction.
Empathy ; Humans ; Korea ; Nursing ; Nursing Care ; Peer Group* ; Psychometrics ; Reproducibility of Results* ; Schools, Nursing ; Students, Nursing

The taxonomy of Acanthamoeba spp., an amphizoic amoeba which causes granulomatous amoebic encephalitis and chronic amoebic keratitis, has been revised many times. The taxonomic validity of some species has yet to be assessed. In this paper, we analyzed the morphological characteristics, nuclear 18s rDNA and mitochondrial 16s rDNA sequences and the Mt DNA RFLP of the type strains of four Acanthamoeba species, which had been previously designated as A. divionensis, A. parasidionensis, A. mauritaniensis, and A. rhysodes. The four isolates revealed characteristic group II morphology. They exhibited 18S rDNA sequence differences of 0.2-1.1% with each other, but more than 2% difference from the other compared reference strains. Four isolates formed a different clade from that of A. castellanii Castellani and the other strains in morphological group II on the phylogenetic tree. In light of these results, A. paradivionensis, A. divionensis, and A. mauritaniensis should be regarded as synonyms for A. rhysodes.
Acanthamoeba/*classification/*genetics ; Animals ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics ; DNA, Ribosomal/genetics ; Phylogeny ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; RNA, Ribosomal, 18S/genetics

Actin binding proteins play key roles in cell structure and movement particularly as regulators of the assembly, stability and localization of actin filaments in the cytoplasm. In the present study, a cDNA clone encoding an actin bundling protein named as AhABP was isolated from Acanthamoeba healyi, a causative agent of granulomatous amebic encephalitis. This clone exhibited high similarity with genes of Physarum polycephalum and Dictyostelium discoideum, which encode actin bundling proteins. Domain search analysis revealed the presence of essential conserved regions, i.e., an active actin binding site and 2 putative calcium binding EF-hands. Transfected amoeba cells demonstrated that AhABP is primarily localized in phagocytic cups, peripheral edges, pseudopods, and in cortical cytoplasm where actins are most abundant. Moreover, AhABP after the deletion of essential regions formed ellipsoidal inclusions within transfected cells. High-speed co-sedimentation assays revealed that AhABP directly interacted with actin in the presence of up to 10 micrometer of calcium. Under the electron microscope, thick parallel bundles were formed by full length AhABP, in contrast to the thin actin bundles formed by constructs with deletion sites. In the light of these results, we conclude that AhABP is a novel actin bundling protein that is importantly associated with actin filaments in the cytoplasm.
Transfection ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Alignment ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Microfilament Proteins/*chemistry/genetics/*metabolism ; EF Hand Motifs ; DNA, Complementary ; Culture Media ; Cloning, Molecular ; Animals ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Actins/*metabolism ; Acanthamoeba/genetics/growth & development/*metabolism