No abstract available.
Humans

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of balance board training combined with tactile stimulation on the affected leg of hemiplegic patients in improving the ability of balance control. METHOD: Thirty hemiplegic patients participated. In the study group, two pieces of adhesive tapes were attached on the skin of affected lower leg. And then, they performed balance training on a balance board. The training was performed for 4 weeks. The control group received conventional gait training program for the same period. Subjects in both groups were tested for their balance control abilities using Balance Master before and after the training period. RESULTS: In the study group, there were statistically significant improvements in the abilities of the weight bearing, body sway control, and rhythmic weight shift (p<0.05) after balance board training. After the training, there were statistically significant differences in the abilities of weight bearing and rhythmic weight shift (p<0.05) between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The training with balance board combined with tactile stimulation to the affected leg and foot was proved to be effective for the treatment of balance control abilities in hemiplegic patients.
Adhesives ; Education ; Foot ; Gait ; Hemiplegia ; Humans ; Leg* ; Rehabilitation ; Skin ; Weight-Bearing

Ten cases with esophageal foreign body were treated surgically from July 1980 to October 1995 at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Chungnam National University Hospital. The mean age was 45.3 years, with a range from 25 to 71. Out of ten cases, 6 were female and four were male. Common symptoms were dysphagia, fever, foreign body sensation and neck pain. Three cases of foreign bodies were of fish bones, two of bubble package of drugs, one case of a beer bottle cap, one of a piece glass, one of a bathtub plug, one of chicken and one of a bean. The diagnosis was established by esophagography using a water soluble contrast material and esophagoscopy. Among of ten cases, two had esophageal stricture due to the ingestion of lye at a young age. One case had experienced psychological problems. All foreign bodies were removed by surgical procedures. Five cases were treated by cervical esophagostomy, one case by right thoracotomy, one case by retrograde bougienation through gastrostomy and two cases by cervical incision and drainage for cervical abscess. Three cases developed post operative esophageal leaks which healed spontaneously and transient hoarseness developed in one case. One case developed traumatic pneumothorax and subcutaneous emphysema which was treated by closed thoracostomy. There were no operative deaths.
Abscess ; Beer ; Chickens ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Deglutition Disorders ; Diagnosis ; Drainage ; Eating ; Esophageal Stenosis ; Esophagoscopy ; Esophagostomy ; Esophagus ; Female ; Fever ; Foreign Bodies* ; Gastrostomy ; Glass ; Hoarseness ; Humans ; Lye ; Male ; Neck Pain ; Pneumothorax ; Sensation ; Subcutaneous Emphysema ; Thoracostomy ; Thoracotomy

Malignant schwannoma is rare tumor which is derived from schwan cells or nerve sheath cells, and it is frequently associated with Von Rechlinghausen's disease. We experienced one case of malignant schwannoma on the right chest wall without Von Rechlinghausen's disease. Patient was 64-year-old man who presented painless palpable mass on the right lower chest wall for about 2 months. On chest computed tomography, the mass which was 6 X 6 cm in size and had central necrosis, involved 11th rib with destruction, invaded the diaphragm and displaced the kidney anteriorlly. He underwent en-bloc resection of the tumor and discharged without any problem after 20 days.
Diaphragm ; Humans ; Kidney ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Neurilemmoma* ; Ribs ; Thoracic Wall* ; Thorax*

Background/Aims: Postal distribution of a fecal immunochemical test (FIT) kit has been recommended as an effective method of increasing participation in colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. The present study was performed to assess the impact of the round-mailed FIT kit on screening participation in underserved regions of Korea and to identify factors related to nonparticipation. Methods: Residents were recruited from three rural regions of Korea that lack screening units for the National Cancer Screening Program. A package containing a FIT kit for stool self-sampling and a return envelope addressed to the local health center was postally distributed to each subject. Thirty days after the kits were mailed, nonresponders were reminded via telephone as the second intervention. The participation rates and odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each intervention response were calculated to evaluate the effect of the interventions and factors related to screening participation in response to the interventions. Results: CRC screening participation rates increased from 24.5% (95% CI, 21.6% to 27.4%) to 42.6% (95% CI, 39.3% to 46.0%) as a result of postal screening and increased further to 51.4% (95% CI, 48.0% to 54.9%) after the telephone reminder. After controlling for the sex, age, and household type of each subject, factors associated with poor response to postal screening were identified as low educational attainment and poor previous participation in the National Cancer Screening Program. Conclusions Round-mailed FIT kits with phone call reminders were an effective intervention, nearly doubling the screening rate in underserved regions of Korea.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the influence of clinical nurse specialists' emotional intelligence on their organizational commitment and turnover intention. METHODS: A descriptive study with second data analysis was conducted with permission. The original data was from the policy research on the status of clinical nurses with extended role hosted by the Hospital Nurses Association in 2007. RESULTS: The mean score of emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, turnover intention were 58.66 (+/-6.63), 46.71 (+/-3.54), 12.87 (+/-3.98) respectively. Emotional intelligence had 40% positive influence on organizational commitment (F=50.58, p<.01, adj.R2=.16) and 24% negative influence on turnover intention (F=16.68, p<.01, adj.R2=.06). CONCLUSION: The results recommend to develop a program that enhances clinical nurse specialists' emotional intelligence. The program could be utilized as an institutional retention strategy to increase clinical nurse specialists' organizational commitment and decrease their turnover intention.
Emotional Intelligence ; Humans ; Intention ; Nurse Clinicians ; Retention (Psychology) ; Statistics as Topic

No abstract available.
Membranes* ; Pregnancy* ; Rupture*

A 6-month-old female infant pre~sented with multiple, slightly depressed pea-sized erythematous macules on. the abdomen and the chest since birth, which together with obese, short stature, short neck, and round face suggested Albrights hereditary osteodystrophy(AHO). Some of the lesions were palpable as hard nodules or plaques in deep dermis. After 3 months follow up, the erythem- atous hue faded out, subcutaneous nodules and plaques enlarged. Skin biopsy specirnen demonstrated a bone formation in deep dermis. Serum calcium and phosphorus levels were lower and upper normal ranges, respectively and serum parathyroid hormone was increased in 69.1 pg/ml (normal, 9-55pg/ml). As pseudohypoparathyroidism including this case mostly exhibit characteristic morphologic features of AHO, the subcutaneous ossification may be a presenting feature.
Abdomen ; Biopsy ; Calcium ; Dermis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Infant ; Neck ; Osteogenesis ; Parathyroid Hormone ; Parturition ; Phosphorus ; Pseudohypoparathyroidism* ; Reference Values ; Skin ; Thorax

PURPOSE: Test equating studies in medical education have been conducted only for high-stake exams or to compare two tests given in a single course. Based on item response theory, we equated computer-based test (CBT) results from the basic medical education curriculum at the College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea and evaluated the validity of using fixed passing scores. METHODS: We collected 232 CBTs (28,636 items) for 40 courses administered over a study period of 9 years. The final data used for test equating included 12 pairs of tests. After test equating, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were utilized to identify changes in item difficulty between previous tests and subsequent tests. Then, we identified gaps between equated passing scores and actual passing scores in subsequent tests through an observed-score equating method. RESULTS: The results of Wilcoxon rank-sum tests indicated that there were no significant differences in item difficulty distribution by year for seven pairs. In the other five pairs, however, the items were significantly more difficult in subsequent years than in previous years. Concerning the gaps between equated passing scores and actual passing scores, equated passing scores in 10 pairs were found to be lower than actual passing scores. In the other two pairs, equated passing scores were higher than actual passing scores. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the item difficulty distributions of tests taught in the same course during successive terms can differ significantly. It may therefore be problematic to use fixed passing scores without considering this possibility.
Curriculum ; Education, Medical ; Educational Measurement ; Korea ; Methods

PURPOSE: Test equating studies in medical education have been conducted only for high-stake exams or to compare two tests given in a single course. Based on item response theory, we equated computer-based test (CBT) results from the basic medical education curriculum at the College of Medicine, the Catholic University of Korea and evaluated the validity of using fixed passing scores. METHODS: We collected 232 CBTs (28,636 items) for 40 courses administered over a study period of 9 years. The final data used for test equating included 12 pairs of tests. After test equating, Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were utilized to identify changes in item difficulty between previous tests and subsequent tests. Then, we identified gaps between equated passing scores and actual passing scores in subsequent tests through an observed-score equating method. RESULTS: The results of Wilcoxon rank-sum tests indicated that there were no significant differences in item difficulty distribution by year for seven pairs. In the other five pairs, however, the items were significantly more difficult in subsequent years than in previous years. Concerning the gaps between equated passing scores and actual passing scores, equated passing scores in 10 pairs were found to be lower than actual passing scores. In the other two pairs, equated passing scores were higher than actual passing scores. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that the item difficulty distributions of tests taught in the same course during successive terms can differ significantly. It may therefore be problematic to use fixed passing scores without considering this possibility.