Previous studies showed that whole body vibration could prevent bone resorption and stimulate new bone formation. The aim of this study is to detect and track effect of whole body vibration for osteoporotic bone of OVX rats. 12 Female rats were used and allocated into 5 group, CON, SHAM, WBV 17, WBV 30 and WBV 45. Rats except SHAM group were ovariectomised to induce osteoporosis. Rats in WBV groups were stimulated whole body vibration at magnitude of 1 mm(peak-peak) and frequency 17 Hz, 30 Hz and 45 Hz, repectively, for 8 weeks (20 min, 5 days/week). The 4th lumbar in rats were scanned at a resolution of 35 micrometer at baseline, before stimulation, and 8 weeks by In-vivo Micro-CT. To detect and track changes of morphological characteristics in lumbar trabecuar bone of rats, structural parameters were measured and calculated from acquiring images. In the results, changes of structural characteristics of WBV group were smaller than those of CON group. Loss of quantity of trabecular bone in WBV 45 was the least. In contrast, that in WBV 17 was the biggest. These results showed that reasonable whole body vibration beneficially affected osteoporotic bones. In addition to, whole body vibration was likely to be substituted partly for drug treatment.
Animals ; Bone Resorption ; Female ; Humans ; Osteogenesis ; Osteoporosis ; Rats* ; Vibration*

BACKGROUND: The Rx Imola (Randox, UK) is newly released bench top - fully automated analyzer based on Window XP software with high-throughput (640 tests per hour with ISE) and continuous random access. We evaluated the performance of Rx Imola for the routine chemistry. METHODS: Repeatability (within-day precision), between-day precision, within-device precision, linearity, recovery rates and correlation were evaluated for 19 items including AST, ALT, ALP, GGT, total bilirubin, calcium, phosphorus, albumin, total protein, BUN, creatinine, glucose, amylase, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, LDH, CK and uric acid. Commercialized quality control materials and patient's sera were used. For correlation study, 747-100 (HITACHI, Japan) and VITROS 950 (Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, USA) were used as comparative analyzers. RESULTS: Coefficients of variation (CVs) of all items in repeatability and between-day precision study were below 5%. The linearities were statistically acceptable (R2>0.99) for all items. The recovery rates ranged from 95.7 to 105.3%. The comparison study showed high correlation between Rx Imola and 747-100 or VITROS 950. Correlation coefficients of all items were above 0.99 except HDL and albumin. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed satisfactory results in precision, linearity, recovery rates and comparison studies of Rx Imola. It was expected to be useful for routine chemistry analysis and back up, because of high performance, easy handling and small size.
Amylases ; Bilirubin ; Calcium ; Chemistry* ; Cholesterol ; Creatinine ; Glucose ; Phosphorus ; Quality Control ; Statistics as Topic ; Triglycerides ; Uric Acid

BACKGROUND: A rapid increase in the desflurane concentration induces tachycardia and hypertension and increases the plasma catecholamine concentration. This study compared the desflurane-induced hemodynamic responses in hypertensive patients with those of normotensive patients. METHODS: Sixty patients, 30 normotensive patient (group 1) and 30 hypertensive patients (group 2), were scheduled to undergo elective surgery under general anesthesia. The hypertensive patients have been taking regular antihypertensive drugs and their blood pressure and heart rate was well controlled. Thirty normotensive patients were not premedicated. The inspired concentration of desflurane through the mask was increased abruptly to 12.0 vol%. The target was to produce an end-tidal concentration of desflurane (ETdesf) of 10.0 vol% which was maintained until the end of the study by adjusting the vaporizer dial setting. The heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), cardiac index (CI), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), ETdesf, end-tidal concentration of carbon dioxide, and peripheral oxygen saturation were measured at the baseline and every 30 seconds for 5 minutes after inhaling of desflurane and for 2 minutes after intubation. RESULTS: The HR, BP, and CI increased significantly in the two groups compared with the baseline. However, the HR, blood pressure, CI, SVR, and ETdesf were similar in both groups. In addition, there were no significant differences of hemodynamic changes between the beta-blocker and the calcium channel blocker in the hypertensive patients. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with well-controlled hypertension, the hemodynamic responses to desflurane are similar to those in normotensive patients.
Anesthesia, General ; Antihypertensive Agents ; Blood Pressure ; Calcium Channels ; Carbon Dioxide ; Heart Rate ; Hemodynamics* ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Inhalation ; Intubation ; Masks ; Nebulizers and Vaporizers ; Oxygen ; Plasma ; Tachycardia ; Vascular Resistance

A 57-year-old female with lumbar spinal stenosis at L4-S1 was scheduled to undergo posterolateral interbody fusion. Intubation with a 7.0 size ID cuffed reinforced tracheal tube (Mallinckrodt(TM), Mallinckrodt Medical Atholen, Ireland) was uncomplicated, and any air leakage was not detected at that time. Two hours after the start of operation, an air leak was apparent at the trachea during ventilation in the prone position. Closer inspection of the inflation tube and pilot balloon showed that the pilot balloon had become detached. Because she was being operated on in the prone position, and ventilation was only possible at a less than optimal state, we attempted to fix this without having to reintubate the patient's trachea. Our solution involved inserting a 21-gauge needle into the inflation tube and a handheld aneroid manometer was then connected to it. The tube cuff was thereafter inflated up to a pressure of 20 cmH2O. In conclusion, careful manipulation is recommended when performing intubation and a needle connector may help secure the airway if the pilot balloon becomes detached during the procedure.
Female ; Humans ; Inflation, Economic ; Intubation ; Middle Aged ; Needles ; Prone Position ; Spinal Stenosis ; Trachea ; Ventilation

Purpose: This study aims to explore the factors influencing nursing professionalism among nursing students, focusing on the image of nurses, satisfaction with their major, and career metacognition. Methods: We conducted a descriptive survey with 185 nursing students from D city and K region on June 10–30, 2024. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS ver. 27.0 (IBM Corp.), employing descriptive statistics, t tests, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé tests, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and regression analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify factors affecting nursing professionalism among nursing students. Results: The regression analysis revealed that the image of nurses (β=.69, p<.001) and monitoring aspect of career metacognition (β=.13, p=.025) were significant predictors of nursing professionalism, accounting for 64.5% of the variance. Conclusion The findings indicate that the image of nurses and monitoring component of career metacognition are critical in shaping nursing professionalism among nursing students. Therefore, nursing education programs should aim to improve the image of nurses and promote self-reflective career practices as strategies to foster professionalism among nursing students.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the factors influencing nursing professionalism among nursing students, focusing on the image of nurses, satisfaction with their major, and career metacognition. Methods: We conducted a descriptive survey with 185 nursing students from D city and K region on June 10–30, 2024. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS ver. 27.0 (IBM Corp.), employing descriptive statistics, t tests, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé tests, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and regression analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify factors affecting nursing professionalism among nursing students. Results: The regression analysis revealed that the image of nurses (β=.69, p<.001) and monitoring aspect of career metacognition (β=.13, p=.025) were significant predictors of nursing professionalism, accounting for 64.5% of the variance. Conclusion The findings indicate that the image of nurses and monitoring component of career metacognition are critical in shaping nursing professionalism among nursing students. Therefore, nursing education programs should aim to improve the image of nurses and promote self-reflective career practices as strategies to foster professionalism among nursing students.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the factors influencing nursing professionalism among nursing students, focusing on the image of nurses, satisfaction with their major, and career metacognition. Methods: We conducted a descriptive survey with 185 nursing students from D city and K region on June 10–30, 2024. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS ver. 27.0 (IBM Corp.), employing descriptive statistics, t tests, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé tests, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and regression analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify factors affecting nursing professionalism among nursing students. Results: The regression analysis revealed that the image of nurses (β=.69, p<.001) and monitoring aspect of career metacognition (β=.13, p=.025) were significant predictors of nursing professionalism, accounting for 64.5% of the variance. Conclusion The findings indicate that the image of nurses and monitoring component of career metacognition are critical in shaping nursing professionalism among nursing students. Therefore, nursing education programs should aim to improve the image of nurses and promote self-reflective career practices as strategies to foster professionalism among nursing students.

Purpose: This study aims to explore the factors influencing nursing professionalism among nursing students, focusing on the image of nurses, satisfaction with their major, and career metacognition. Methods: We conducted a descriptive survey with 185 nursing students from D city and K region on June 10–30, 2024. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS ver. 27.0 (IBM Corp.), employing descriptive statistics, t tests, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé tests, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and regression analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to identify factors affecting nursing professionalism among nursing students. Results: The regression analysis revealed that the image of nurses (β=.69, p<.001) and monitoring aspect of career metacognition (β=.13, p=.025) were significant predictors of nursing professionalism, accounting for 64.5% of the variance. Conclusion The findings indicate that the image of nurses and monitoring component of career metacognition are critical in shaping nursing professionalism among nursing students. Therefore, nursing education programs should aim to improve the image of nurses and promote self-reflective career practices as strategies to foster professionalism among nursing students.

PURPOSE: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are associated with high health and financial costs and have increased as more elderly patients treated with multiple medications emerge in an aging society. It has thus become challenging for physicians to identify drugs causing adverse events. This study proposes a novel approach that can improve clinical decision making with recommendations on ADE causative drugs based on patient information, drug information, and previous ADE cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We introduce a personalized and learning approach for detecting drugs with a specific adverse event, where recommendations tailored to each patient are generated using data mining techniques. Recommendations could be improved by learning the associations of patients and ADEs as more ADE cases are accumulated through iterations. After consulting the system-generated recommendations, a physician can alter prescriptions accordingly and report feedback, enabling the system to evolve with actual causal relationships. RESULTS: A prototype system is developed using ADE cases reported over 1.5 years and recommendations obtained from decision tree analysis are validated by physicians. Two representative cases demonstrate that the personalized recommendations could contribute to more prompt and accurate responses to ADEs. CONCLUSION: The current system where the information of individual drugs exists but is not organized in such a way that facilitates the extraction of relevant information together can be complemented with the proposed approach to enhance the treatment of patients with ADEs. Our illustrative results show the promise of the proposed system and further studies are expected to validate its performance with quantitative measures.
Aged ; Aging ; Clinical Decision-Making ; Complement System Proteins ; Data Mining ; Decision Trees ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Humans ; Learning* ; Prescriptions

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to describe clinical, biochemical, and radiologic features in patients with pyogenic liver abscess and to investigate predictors of septic shock. METHODS: We consecutively included subjects who were diagnosed as pyogenic liver abscess in the emergency department (ED) from January 1st, 2010 to June 30th, 2013. Through review of medical records, clinical, biochemical, and radiologic data were collected. The primary endpoint was septic shock during hospitalization. RESULTS: A total of 228 patients were included, with a mean age of 60.8+/-12.8 years, and 63.2% were men. Among them, 198 patients presented with fever and GCS <15 was observed in 15. Klebsiella spp. was most commonly identified in 33.8%, followed by E. coli and Streptococci spp. in 7% for each. Septic shock occurred in 55 (22.4%) and mortality rate was 1.3%. In univariable logistic regression, GCS <15, systolic BP <90 mmHg, pulse rate > or =120/min, respiratory rate > or = 22/min, body temperature (BT) > or =38degrees C, WBC, platelet, BUN, creatinine, albumin, AST, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Creactive protein (CRP), abscess size > or =5 cm, and bilobal involvement were significantly associated with septic shock (p<0.05). In multivariate analysis, systolic BP <90 mmHg (OR 95.79, 95% CI: 11.16-822.02), BT > or =38degrees C (OR 1.95, 1.36-2.78), BUN (OR 1.03, 1.01-1.06), ALP (OR 1.003, 1.000-1.005), and abscess size > or =5 cm (OR 2.31, 1.08-4.94) were independent predictors of septic shock. CONCLUSION: Low Systolic Bp, High Bt, Elevated Bun And Alp, And Abscess Size > or =5 Cm Were Independently Associated With Septic Shock In Patients With Pyogenic Liver Abscess.
Abscess ; Alkaline Phosphatase ; Blood Platelets ; Body Temperature ; Creatinine ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Fever ; Heart Rate ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Klebsiella ; Liver Abscess, Pyogenic* ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Respiratory Rate ; Shock, Septic*