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

OBJECTIVETo study the roles of actin and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta(1) in the injury repair and the development of emphysema.

METHODSWistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: the smoking and infection group (group SI) and the control group (group C). The rats of group SI received smoking irritation accompanying with repeated intranasal infection. Subgroups of the experimental animals were killed in the 2nd, 4th, 8th and 16th weeks respectively. The morphological changes of lungs were compared and PaO(2), PaCO(2) as well as the right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) were analysed. The lung sections were stained with immunohistochemistry for actin and TGF-beta(1).

RESULTSIn comparison with animals of group C, thickening of the bronchiolar walls, narrowing of bronchiolar lumens, and area of emphysema were much severe in animals of group SI (P < 0.05). The muscularization of intra-alveolar arteries in group SI in the 16th week was apparent in comparing with that in group C (P < 0.05). PaO(2) values in group SI were significantly decreased, and RVSP values in group SI were significantly increased in the 8th and 16th week (P < 0.05). Actin expression was increased in animals of group SI in the 4th and 8th week (0.24 +/- 0.06 and 0.25 +/- 0.05) in comparing with that of group C (0.09 +/- 0.03) (P < 0.05). Animals of group SI showed a significant increase of TGF-beta(1) in lung tissue in different periods as mentioned in above (33.33 +/- 12.11, 45.71 +/- 15.12, 71.43 +/- 16.76 and 86.25 +/- 20.66 respectively).

CONCLUSIONSThe increased expression of actin and TGF-beta(1) protein in small airways induced by smoking irritation and Klebsiella Pneumoniae may interfere with the repair response, and contributes to the development of emphysema.

Actins ; metabolism ; Animals ; Bronchi ; metabolism ; pathology ; Epithelial Cells ; metabolism ; Female ; Klebsiella Infections ; microbiology ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Lung ; pathology ; Male ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive ; metabolism ; microbiology ; Pulmonary Emphysema ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Smoking ; Transforming Growth Factor beta ; metabolism ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1

PURPOSE: Chest pain is common in children and adolescents and is a reason for referral to pediatric cardiologists. Although most cases of chest pain in these age groups are benign and do not require treatment, timely diagnosis is important not to miss life-threatening diseases requiring prompt treatment. We investigated certain clinical characteristics that may be useful in the diagnosis of such critical diseases. METHODS: Patient medical records between July 2006 and September 2013 were retrospectively examined. We included 517 patients who presented with chest pain to the Department of Pediatrics at Kyung Hee University Hospital in Gangdong. RESULTS: Most cases of chest pain were idiopathic in origin (73.6%), followed by cases with respiratory (9.3%), musculoskeletal (8.8%), cardiac (3.8%), gastrointestinal (2.9%), and psychiatric (1.4%) causes. In 6 patients (1.2%) with air-leak syndrome including pneumothorax or pneumomediastinum, the pain was abrupt, continuous, and lasted for a short period of 1-2 days after onset in the older adolescents. Of the patients with cardiac pain, 13 had cardiac arrhythmias (65.0%), 6 had congenital heart diseases (30%), and 1 had coronary aneurysms caused by Kawasaki disease (5.0%). One patient with atrial flutter had only symptoms of syncope and chest pain. CONCLUSION: The abrupt, continuous chest pain of a short duration in the older children was characteristic of air-leak syndrome. In patients with pneumomediastinum, radiological diagnosis was difficult without careful examination. Combined syncope should not be neglected and further cardiac workup is essential in such patients.
Adolescent* ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Atrial Flutter ; Chest Pain* ; Child* ; Coronary Aneurysm ; Diagnosis ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Mediastinal Emphysema ; Medical Records ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Pediatrics ; Pneumothorax ; Referral and Consultation ; Retrospective Studies ; Syncope ; Thorax*

BACKGROUND: Avoparcin has been banned in Korea since 8 years ago, but vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) has not been proven to be eradicated from the domestic livestock. This study was purposed to investigate the prevalence of VRE and perform an epidemiologic survey in chicken farms located in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. METHODS: Feces were collected freshly from chickens and workers and their families in three free-range chicken farms and three cage-raising chicken farms. All swabs were inoculated on enterococcosel agar containing 6 microgram/mL of vancomycin. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of teicoplanin and vancomycin were determined using the agar dilution method. Vancomycin resistance were genotyped with multiplex PCR using primers specific for vanA, vanB, and vanC1. Epidemiolgic survey was carried out using a uniform questionnaire to obtain information about the number and variety of livestock, feeding protocols, physical farming conditions, maintenance protocols, hygiene, and employment conditions. RESULTS: vanA Enterococcus facium was isolated from 37 (2.9%) of 1280 chickens. There were no VRE carriers found among the workers and their families. The prevalence of VRE among cage-raising chickens was 4.8% compared to 0.6% for free-range chickens. The difference between the two groups was highly significant (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: There still was a significant rate of VRE colonization in chicken livestock in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. Physical farming conditions of cage-raising chicken farms seemed to be associated with a high VRE colonization rate.
Agar ; Chickens* ; Colon ; Employment ; Enterococcus ; Feces ; Gyeonggi-do* ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Korea ; Livestock ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence* ; Seoul* ; Teicoplanin ; Vancomycin ; Vancomycin Resistance ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: Avoparcin has been banned in Korea since 8 years ago, but vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) has not been proven to be eradicated from the domestic livestock. This study was purposed to investigate the prevalence of VRE and perform an epidemiologic survey in chicken farms located in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. METHODS: Feces were collected freshly from chickens and workers and their families in three free-range chicken farms and three cage-raising chicken farms. All swabs were inoculated on enterococcosel agar containing 6 microgram/mL of vancomycin. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of teicoplanin and vancomycin were determined using the agar dilution method. Vancomycin resistance were genotyped with multiplex PCR using primers specific for vanA, vanB, and vanC1. Epidemiolgic survey was carried out using a uniform questionnaire to obtain information about the number and variety of livestock, feeding protocols, physical farming conditions, maintenance protocols, hygiene, and employment conditions. RESULTS: vanA Enterococcus facium was isolated from 37 (2.9%) of 1280 chickens. There were no VRE carriers found among the workers and their families. The prevalence of VRE among cage-raising chickens was 4.8% compared to 0.6% for free-range chickens. The difference between the two groups was highly significant (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: There still was a significant rate of VRE colonization in chicken livestock in Seoul and Kyunggi Province. Physical farming conditions of cage-raising chicken farms seemed to be associated with a high VRE colonization rate.
Agar ; Chickens* ; Colon ; Employment ; Enterococcus ; Feces ; Gyeonggi-do* ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Korea ; Livestock ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence* ; Seoul* ; Teicoplanin ; Vancomycin ; Vancomycin Resistance ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Purpose To explore the expression,significance and relationship of apoptosis related gene Apollon and Caspase 9 in gastric carcinoma. Methods The SP immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression of Apollon and Caspase 9 in 105 cases of gastric carcinoma,38 adjacent tissues and 29 normal tissues,and the expression of Apollon and Caspase 9 was analyzed with relation to clinicopathologic factors. Results The numbers of positive expression of Apollon gene in gastric carcinoma tissues,adjacent tissues and normal tissues were 82(78. 10％) ,8(21. 05％) and 2(6. 90％) respectively, there was significant difference between gastric carcinoma tissues, adjacent tissues and normal tissues (P < 0. 01) . The expression of Apollon in gastric carcinoma was positively correlated with degree of tumor differentiation,TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (P < 0. 05) ,but not with other clinicopathologic factors (P > 0. 05) . The numbers of positive expression of Caspase 9 gene in gastric carcinoma tissues,adjacent tissues and normal tissues were 21 (20. 00％) ,23 (60. 53％) and 21 (72. 41％) ,respectively,and there was significant difference between gastric carcinoma tissues,adjacent tissues and normal tissues (P < 0. 01) . The expression of Caspase 9 in gastric carcinoma was positively correlated with degree of tumor differentiation, TNM staging and lymph node metastasis (P < 0. 01) ,but not with other clinicopathologic factors (P > 0. 05) . The expression of Apollon was negatively correlated to Caspase 9 in gastric carcinoma with statistical significance (r = - 0. 541 1,P < 0. 01) . Conclusions The interaction of Apollon and Caspase 9 may be involved in the gastric carcinogenesis and progression. Apollon is closely related with invasion and metastasis of gastric carcinoma,and it may be a potential treatment target.

The objective of this study is to identify any differences in disease status between foreign patients staying in Korea and Korean patients. The study results are : First, more foreign stayers than Korean in their 20's and 30's seek medical services but those after age of 60 show the opposite pattern. This difference seems to feflect cultural difference in the concept of medical services and health seeking behavior. Second, foreign pateints were much more frequently(almost threee times) diagnosed as having an acute disease, and the fact that the most common diseases were "diseases of the respiratory system" can suggest the seriousness of air pollution problem in Korea. And, the fact that foreign stayers, especially those from developed countries, tend to take more periodic general physical examina-tion indicated that their health maintenance efforts place emphasis on prevention. Foreign patients seek more medical services during the spring and summer time when compared to Korean patients, and Korean patients visited the clinic more frequently during the autum time. Also, the review of the number of outpatients seeking medical services and the average duration of outpatient follow-up mainten-ance after discharge suggest that foreigners suffer less severe diseases than Koreans do. Finally, in contrast to the usual practice of Koreans of coming to the center without prior calling for reservation, most foreign patients tend to make reservations before coming(usually a day before) in general. This is also reflective of cultural difference related to the way of utilizing medical services.
Acute Disease ; Air Pollution ; Developed Countries ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Korea ; Outpatients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There are two ways to route sound from a deaf hemifield to a functional ear: the bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA) and the contralateral routing of signal hearing aid (CROS HA). BAHA uses transcranial bone conduction; on the other hand, CROS HA uses air conduction. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the benefit of these auditory rehabilitation devices objectively and subjectively, and to analyze factors that affect daily using time. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 19 patients who selected BAHA and 9 patients who selected CROS HA to undergo rehabilitation of unilateral hearing loss. Preoperative pure tone air and bone conduction thresholds, BAHA-aided thresholds and CROS HA-aided thresholds were measured. Hearing in noise test (HINT) was measured with unaided and aided in signal to noise ratio 10 (signal 75 dB HL, noise 65 dBA). Bern Benefit in Single-Sided Deafness Questionnaire (BBSS) was evaluated for all patients to assess subjective satisfaction and also, daily device using time was investigated. RESULTS: The aided pure tone audiometry was 44.58 dB HL, 42.71 dB HL for in BAHA and CROS HA, respectively, whereas the unaided PTA was 111.29, 103.28 dB HL for BAHA and CROS HA, respectively. The aided HINT was 63.03 and 64.06%, whereas the unaided HINT was 22.13% and 37.44% for BAHA and CROS, respectively. BBSS showed more satisfactory results with BAHA and CROS HA when compared unaided in all items. Daily using time did not correlate with the degree of satisfaction, better ear hearing levels or etiology. CONCLUSION: It was found that not only the preoperative BAHA rod test and HA trials but also the customized and detail counseling were needed for single sided deaf patients to use auditory rehabilitation devices frequently.
Audiometry ; Bone Conduction ; Counseling ; Deafness ; Ear ; Hand ; Hearing ; Hearing Aids ; Hearing Loss, Unilateral ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Noise ; Patient Selection ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Retrospective Studies ; Signal-To-Noise Ratio ; Suture Anchors

Recently, the incidence of pertussis has been increasing; however, reports on mixed infection of pertussis with other respiratory pathogens are rare in highly immunized populations. We report the case of a 10-year-old girl who presented with cough, post-tussive emesis, and fever. She was subsequently diagnosed with bronchopneumonia. Although she had received five doses of diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine, polymerase chain reaction of her nasopharyngeal aspirate confirmed Bordetella pertussis infection. In addition, serologic testing for Mycoplasma pneumoniae was also positive. The patient was treated with roxithromycin without any complications. This is the first report of mixed B. pertussis and M. pneumoniae infection in Korea. To avoid under-diagnosis, pertussis should be considered in patients with chronic cough even when other respiratory pathogens have been documented.
Bordetella pertussis ; Bronchopneumonia ; Child* ; Coinfection ; Cough ; Female* ; Fever ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mycoplasma Infections* ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae ; Mycoplasma* ; Pertussis Vaccine ; Pneumonia ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Roxithromycin ; Serologic Tests ; Vomiting ; Whooping Cough*

Post-menopausal osteoporosis (PMO) is a major global human health concern. Owing to the need for therapeutic drugs without side effects, natural extracts containing various polyphenolic compounds that may exert estrogenic effects have been studied in depth. Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS), which has been used as a traditional herbal medicine for centuries in Korea, was recently revealed to exert estrogenic effects attributable to its bioactive ingredients sulfuretin and butein, which have strong estrogen receptor–binding affinities. In this study, the protective potential of RVS in PMO was evaluated by using an experimental animal model of PMO, which was established by ovariectomy (OVX) of female Sprague Dawley rats. The oral administration of RVS at 20 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg for 8 weeks markedly protected against OVX-induced atrophy of the uterine tube and reversed the elevation in the ratio of serum receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand to osteoprotegerin, which is a marker of disease severity. In addition, RVS inhibited OVX-induced tibia bone loss, activated osteogenic activity, and suppressed osteoclastic activity in the tibial epiphyseal plate, a region of bone remodeling. Collectively, these factors indicated that the oral intake of RVS might be beneficial for the prevention of PMO.
Administration, Oral ; Atrophy ; Bone Remodeling ; Estrogens ; Fallopian Tubes ; Female ; Growth Plate ; Herbal Medicine ; Humans ; Korea ; Models, Animal ; Models, Theoretical* ; Osteoclasts ; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal* ; Osteoprotegerin ; Ovariectomy ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Rhus* ; Tibia