OBJECTIVE: We compared patients with chronic schizophrenia and normal controls with respect to decision-making ability. Measures were implemented to control for the participants' intelligence levels as well as to ensure to use of a moderate sample size. The goal of this study was to confirm inconsistent results from previous studies which had stemmed from too small of a sample size, highly variable performance of normal controls, and not controlling for intelligence as a confounding factor. METHODS: Fifty-two chronic stable schizophrenic inpatients and 55 healthy controls participated in the study. We controlled for intelligence by including subjects with intelligence quotient's (IQ) between 80 and 120, examining any differences in decision-making performance between groups on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). We also addressed several issues relating to performance on the IGT, such as working memory and clinical symptoms. RESULTS: Schizophrenic patients were found to perform poorly on the IGT relative to normal controls (F(1,105)=17.73, p<0.001); however, more importantly, they also displayed the slow yet profitable shift from disadvantageous decks to advantageous decks over time. We also found that when compared with healthy controls, schizophrenic patients showed a poorer performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)(t=-5.48, p<0.001 for perseverative error) which was not related to their performance on the IGT. CONCLUSION: Based on previous literature and the results of this study, impaired sensitivity to both reward and punishment might be a more plausible explanation for the poor performance on the IGT in the schizophrenic group. We speculated that this impairment seemed related more to the different responsiveness to the magnitude than to the frequency of punishment, and to the different interpretation of less informative verbal cues in the context of the reinforcing schedule.
Appointments and Schedules ; Cues ; Dietary Sucrose ; Gambling ; Humans ; Inpatients ; Intelligence ; Iowa ; Memory, Short-Term ; Punishment ; Reward ; Sample Size ; Schizophrenia ; Wisconsin

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine how patients' coping style and social support affect post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in breast cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy. METHODS: The sample consisted of 134 outpatients who received breast cancer treatments at the cancer clinic of a university hospital. The collected data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, t-test, ANOVA, chi2-test, Pearson correlation coefficients using SPSS for Windows, version 18.0. RESULTS: Among total, 26.9% of patients were classified into a high-risk PTSD group. In the high-risk group, a positive correlation was found between active and passive coping styles and between social support and active coping styles. CONCLUSION: In this study, the stronger the social support was, the more active the coping style was for high-risk PTSD patients with breast cancer. Considering the fact that cancer requires life-long self-management, strong social support could improve patients' healthcare capability. Furthermore, solid social support could effectively reduce the stress level and improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients in the high-risk PTSD group.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Drug Therapy* ; Humans ; Outpatients ; Quality of Life ; Self Care ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationships among occupational identity, social support, posttraumatic growth, and health-related quality of life regarding firefighters.METHODS: The study was conducted with 149 firefighters working at two fire stations in South Gyeongsang Province. Data were collected between August and September 2018. There were four research instruments in the structured survey, including the occupational identity scale, social support scale, Korea Posttraumatic Growth Inventory and World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument.RESULTS: As a result, the quality of life of firefighters was positively correlated with social support, occupational identity, and posttraumatic growth. The factors associated with the quality of life of firefighters were social support (β=.36, p < .001), and occupational identity (β=.31, p < .001). The total explanatory power of these variables was 53.1%.CONCLUSION: To improve the health-related quality of life of firefighters based on the results of this study, it is necessary to develop support programs to strengthen social support and occupational identity.
Firefighters ; Fires ; Humans ; Korea ; Occupations ; Quality of Life ; Social Identification ; World Health Organization

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting premenstrual symptoms among nursing students, focusing on depression, fatigue, and body esteem. Methods: The participants were 145 nursing students at a university located in Kyungnam, Korea. Data were collected from November 2 to November 30, 2019 using self-reported structured questionnaires, and analyzed using descriptive statistics, the independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean item score for premenstrual symptoms was 2.52±0.92, indicating a low level. The mean score for depression was 16.05±7.72, and 58.6% of participants were found to be non-depressed, 16.6% to be mildly depressed, 15.2% to be moderately depressed, and 9.7% to be severely depressed. The mean item score for fatigue was 4.84±0.84, indicating a moderate level, and that for body esteem was 2.94±0.44, indicating a moderate level. The premenstrual symptoms of nursing students showed a statistically significant correlation with depression (r=–.58, p<.001), fatigue (r=.33, p<.001), and body esteem (r=–.28, p<.001). The factors impacting the premenstrual symptoms of nursing students were depression (β=.47, p<.001), dysmenorrhea (β=–.18, p=.009), menstrual cycle regularity (β=.17, p=.013), and body esteem (β=–.14, p=.038). The total explanatory power of these variables was 41.0%. Conclusion The results suggest that intervention programs to relieve the premenstrual symptoms of nursing students should focus on depression, menstrual cycle regularity, dysmenorrhea, and body esteem.

No abstract available.
Spine* ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing* ; Tabes Dorsalis*

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors influencing health-promoting behaviors (HPB) among fish market merchants. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive design including 117 merchants working at a fish market in city C. Data were collected using self-reported questionnaires during April 19-30, 2021, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffé’s test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression analysis with SPSS/WIN 23.0. Results: The scores were 2.68±0.49 for HPB among fish market merchants. Factors significantly influencing HPB among fish market merchants were perceived disabilities (β= -.42, p<.001), self-efficacy (β=.26, p<.001), perceived benefits (β=.16, p=.012), exercise (β=.14, p=.023) and daily working hours (β=-.13, p=.030). These factors accounted for 60.3% of the HPB of fish market merchants. Conclusion These findings suggest that efforts are needed to reduce perceived disabilities, reduce working hours per day, and develop programs to enhance self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and exercise in order promote HPB among fish market merchants.

Cervical cancer and its precursors are caused principally, if not exclusively, by HPV infection and HPV DNA is found in more than 90% of cervical cancers. Cervical cytology is limited by its false negativity and this may be supplimented by other adjunctive test such as HPV test. It is therefore important to explore the use of HPV DNA detection as a primary or supplementary screening method and to determine whether HPV typing can be used as a predictor of a lesion's clinical behavior. Cervical cytology and Hybrid Capture test for HPV detection were performed in 450 asymtomatic wornen visited Health Care Center in Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital,and none of whom was believed to have current cervical disease. The Papanicolaou cytology results were classified by The Bethesda System : 333(74.%) women were classified to within normal limit, 19(4.2%) benign reactive change, 38(8.4%) ASCUS, 59(13%) low grade SIL, and only one woman high grade SIL. Twenty five of 450(5.6%) women showed HPV infection by Hybid Capture test. Among 98 wornen with abnormal Papanicolaou cytology, 16(16.3%) women showed HPV DNA positivity. (continue)
Delivery of Health Care ; DNA* ; Female ; Humans* ; Mass Screening* ; Papilloma* ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

No abstract available.
Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic* ; Humans ; Twins, Monozygotic*

Pityriasis lichenoides Chronica is a cutaneous disorder of unknown etiology and characterized pathologically by vasculitis and clinically by its marked chronicity and lack of specific treatment. Emollient-phototherapy is a recently introduced effective treatment for psoriasis. The authors treated 3 patients with pityriasis lichenoides chronica by the emollient-phototherapy technic with quite satisfactory results.

Hand assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (HALDN) has recently emerged as a very attractive modality in standard donor nephrectomy because of its many advantages. However, it also has disadvantages, which include gas emboli, subcutaneous emphysema, hypercarbia, pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum. This case involves a male patient who had suffered from temporary hypercarbia due to increased carbon dioxide absorption due to massive subcutaneous emphysema about 1 hour after pneumoperitoneum during HALDN. Following multiple skin punctures with an 18 G disposable needle, chest compliance and blood gas findings improved. Three hours later the operation ended successfully and he was transferred to the recovery room, and show no further problems. We report upon this clinical experience and include a brief review of the literature.
Absorption ; Carbon Dioxide ; Compliance ; Hand* ; Humans ; Male ; Mediastinal Emphysema ; Needles ; Nephrectomy* ; Pneumoperitoneum ; Pneumothorax ; Punctures ; Recovery Room ; Skin ; Subcutaneous Emphysema* ; Thorax ; Tissue Donors*