OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of maternal sociodemographic characteristics, especially education and employment, and parenting stress on the child's self-concept. Attention was also paid to the mediating impact of parenting style on the relationship between the maternal variables and a child's self-concept. METHODS: A questionnaire and three scales were completed by fifth graders and their mothers, and 270 sets of paired data were analyzed. RESULTS: The results showed that mothers with higher education experienced less child-related parenting stress, were perceived to be more achievement-oriented and rational by their children, and also had children with more positive selfconcept. The relationship between maternal education and child's self-concept was mediated by the rationality dimension of parenting style. Maternal employment was not related to parenting stress, parenting style and most aspects of the child's self-concept. Lastly, child-related parenting stress had a negative effect on the child's self-concept, and this effect was mediated by the warmth and rationality dimensions of parenting style. CONCLUSION: Parenting style had a mediating effect on the relationships between the child's self-concept and maternal education and child-related parenting stress.
Child ; Employment ; Humans ; Mothers ; Negotiating ; Parenting ; Parents ; Weights and Measures ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore patients' experience of participation in their hospital care. METHODS: Face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured interview guide were conducted with a total of 21 patients in a tertiary hospital in Seoul, South Korea. Collected data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Two categories of patients' experience of participation in hospital care emerged: 1) Reactive participatory activity, 2) active participatory activity. Major participatory activities included ‘complying with medical instructions’, ‘listening’, ‘responding’ and ‘questioning’. Healthcare professionals' attentive attitudes and explanation, and availability of care equipment were facilitating factors affecting patient participation in their care, whereas limited accessibility to and poor communication with healthcare professionals, inconvenient patient room, and patient factors were barriers to their participation. CONCLUSION: The findings in this study reveal that patients tend to participate in their care in a reactive way and that healthcare professionals have a significant role in facilitating patients' participation. Furthermore, the care environment and patient factors need to be considered to promote patient participation in hospital care.
Delivery of Health Care ; Humans ; Korea ; Patient Participation ; Patients' Rooms ; Seoul ; Tertiary Care Centers

Purpose: This study aimed to explore nurses’ experience in caring for COVID-19 patients. Methods: A total of 10 nurses working in a COVID-19 ward of a public hospital in South Korea were recruited using purposeful sampling. Individual telephone interviews were conducted and then transcribed verbatim. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Two categories of nurses’ experience in caring for COVID-19 patients emerged; “unstable psychological status” and “adaptation and self-esteem”. “Shortage of staff due to the increase in infected people”, “poor environment due to the urgent construction of a COVID-19 ward”, “unstable operating system”, and “excessive demands and verbal abuse from patients” were “obstacles”, while “cooperation and consideration between colleagues” and “interest and support from the manager” were found to be “sources to boost morale” for nurses in caring for COVID-19 patients. Conclusion This study can be fundamental data for a deeper understanding of the experiences and challenges faced by frontline nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. It is necessary to provide psychological support for nurses and establish a well-structured nursing care system in order to fight a pandemic such as COVID-19.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a scale to measure hospital nurses’ silence behavior and examine its validity and reliability. Methods: A total of 52 preliminary items on hospital nurses’ silence behavior were selected using a content validity test by seven experts on 53 candidate items derived from a literature review and in-depth interviews with 14 nurses. A total of 405 hospital nurses participated in a psychometric testing. Data analysis comprised item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and convergent and discriminant validity tests. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used for assessing concurrent validity, and Cronbach’s alpha was used for the reliability test. Results: The final scale consisted of nine factors with 31 items, exhibiting acceptable model fit indices, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. The score of the entire scale was positively correlated with the ‘Organizational Silence Scale (OSS)-the issues on which nurses remain silent’ (r = .60, p < .001) and ‘OSS-the reasons why nurses remain silent’ (r = .68, p < .001). Cronbach’s α of the scale was .92, and α of each subscale ranged from .71 to .90. Conclusion The Hospital Nurses’ Silence Behavior Scale is a useful tool for assessing multifaceted silence behavior among nurses. It can provide basic data for developing better communication strategies among nurses and other hospital staff.

A 41-year-old man presented a bean sized, solid, painless left scrotal mass he'd had for 10 years. The mass was well demarcated and it showed homogeneous echogenecity on ultrasonography. Simple mass excision was performed and the specimen revealed a relatively well circumscribed mass lesion composed of dilated tubules with flattened lining cells. A focal infiltration to the seminiferous tubule and involvement of the biopsy margins were observed. The tubules had a positive reaction to the calretinin and anti-mesothelial antibody on immunohistochemical stain. Therefore, the tumor was diagnosed as adenomatoid tumor of the testis. Adenomatoid tumors of testis are rare benign neoplasms that are thought to originate from mesothelum. Most cases were reported in the epididymis, spermatic cord and testicular tunica, and rare cases were from the ejaculatory duct, prostate and adrenal gland. The findings of adenomatoid tumor infiltrating through the testis parenchyme and seminiferous tubule, like for our case, have not been previously reported in Korea.
Adenomatoid Tumor* ; Adrenal Glands ; Adult ; Biopsy ; Calbindin 2 ; Ejaculatory Ducts ; Epididymis ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Prostate ; Seminiferous Tubules* ; Spermatic Cord ; Testis* ; Ultrasonography

Animals ; Base Composition ; Dogs ; Genome ; Genomics ; Korea ; Methicillin Resistance ; Otitis Externa ; Otitis ; Plasmids ; Pyoderma ; Skin ; Soft Tissue Infections ; Staphylococcus

The increase in canine skin and soft tissue infections, such as pyoderma and otitis, caused by Staphylococcus schleiferi strains, is of significant zoonotic concern. In this study, we report the first complete genome sequence for a methicillin-resistant clinical isolate of S. schleiferi (MRSS) designated as SS4, obtained from a dog with otitis externa, in Korea. The genome of SS4 strain was of 2,539,409 bp and presented high G+C content ratio (35.90%) with no plasmid. Comparative analysis of SS4 genome revealed that it is closely related to 2142-05 and 5909-02 strains isolated from the canine skin infections in the USA.

The increase in canine skin and soft tissue infections, such as pyoderma and otitis, caused by Staphylococcus schleiferi strains, is of significant zoonotic concern. In this study, we report the first complete genome sequence for a methicillin-resistant clinical isolate of S. schleiferi (MRSS) designated as SS4, obtained from a dog with otitis externa, in Korea. The genome of SS4 strain was of 2,539,409 bp and presented high G+C content ratio (35.90%) with no plasmid. Comparative analysis of SS4 genome revealed that it is closely related to 2142-05 and 5909-02 strains isolated from the canine skin infections in the USA.

PURPOSE: Mizoribine (MZR), an inhibitor of Inosine monophosphate (IMP) dehydrogenase which depletes cellular GTP, is clinically used as an immunosuppressive drug. This study was designed to evaluate the mechanism by which MZR exerts the cytotoxic effect on Jurkat T cells. METHODS: Jurkat T cell is a human T lymphocytic cell line. It was obtained from the Korean Type Culture Collection. Cell viability was measured by the MTT assay and flow cytometry. Caspase activity assay, Western blotting, 2-D PAGE, and mitochondrial membrane potential were detected using biochemical analysis. Morphologic finding was observed by Hoechst staining. RESULTS: The data demonstrated that the treatment of MZR decreased cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. MZR-induced cell death was confirmed as apoptosis, which was characterized by chromatin condensation and H2AX phosphorylation. MZR increased the catalytic activity of caspase-3 protease, -8 protease and -9 proteases. The activation of caspase-3 protease was further confirmed by the degradation of polymerase (PARP), a substrate of caspase-3 protease by MZR in Jurkat T cells. Furthermore, MZR induced the changes of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (MTP) and the cytosolic release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria. In addition, MZR induced the decrease of Bcl-X(L) expression whereas the increase of Bcl-X(S), Bak and Bim expression. Guanosine markedly inhibited cell viability and apoptosis through consistent suppression of the activity of caspase-8 protease, an upstream caspase among the caspase family, H2AX phosphorylation and PARP cleavage in MZR-treated cells. Also, I have screened the expression profile of proteins in the Jurkat T cells by using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. Among 300 spots resolved in the 2-D gels, the comparison of the control versus apoptotic cells revealed that the signal intensity of 10 spots was decreased and 5 spots was increased. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that MZR functions as an inhibitor of IMP dehydrogenase in apoptosis of Jurkat T cells via activation of intrinsic caspase cascades as well as mitochondrial dysfunction.
Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Caspase 8 ; Cell Death ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; Chromatin ; Cytochromes c ; Cytosol ; Electrophoresis ; Flow Cytometry ; Gels ; Guanosine ; Guanosine Triphosphate ; Humans ; IMP Dehydrogenase ; Inosine Monophosphate ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Membrane Potentials ; Mitochondria ; Oxidoreductases ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Phosphorylation ; T-Lymphocytes*

PURPOSE: Mizoribine (MZR), an inhibitor of Inosine monophosphate (IMP) dehydrogenase which depletes cellular GTP, is clinically used as an immunosuppressive drug. This study was designed to evaluate the mechanism by which MZR exerts the cytotoxic effect on Jurkat T cells. METHODS: Jurkat T cell is a human T lymphocytic cell line. It was obtained from the Korean Type Culture Collection. Cell viability was measured by the MTT assay and flow cytometry. Caspase activity assay, Western blotting, 2-D PAGE, and mitochondrial membrane potential were detected using biochemical analysis. Morphologic finding was observed by Hoechst staining. RESULTS: The data demonstrated that the treatment of MZR decreased cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent manner. MZR-induced cell death was confirmed as apoptosis, which was characterized by chromatin condensation and H2AX phosphorylation. MZR increased the catalytic activity of caspase-3 protease, -8 protease and -9 proteases. The activation of caspase-3 protease was further confirmed by the degradation of polymerase (PARP), a substrate of caspase-3 protease by MZR in Jurkat T cells. Furthermore, MZR induced the changes of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (MTP) and the cytosolic release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria. In addition, MZR induced the decrease of Bcl-X(L) expression whereas the increase of Bcl-X(S), Bak and Bim expression. Guanosine markedly inhibited cell viability and apoptosis through consistent suppression of the activity of caspase-8 protease, an upstream caspase among the caspase family, H2AX phosphorylation and PARP cleavage in MZR-treated cells. Also, I have screened the expression profile of proteins in the Jurkat T cells by using two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. Among 300 spots resolved in the 2-D gels, the comparison of the control versus apoptotic cells revealed that the signal intensity of 10 spots was decreased and 5 spots was increased. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that MZR functions as an inhibitor of IMP dehydrogenase in apoptosis of Jurkat T cells via activation of intrinsic caspase cascades as well as mitochondrial dysfunction.
Apoptosis* ; Blotting, Western ; Caspase 3 ; Caspase 8 ; Cell Death ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; Chromatin ; Cytochromes c ; Cytosol ; Electrophoresis ; Flow Cytometry ; Gels ; Guanosine ; Guanosine Triphosphate ; Humans ; IMP Dehydrogenase ; Inosine Monophosphate ; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial ; Membrane Potentials ; Mitochondria ; Oxidoreductases ; Peptide Hydrolases ; Phosphorylation ; T-Lymphocytes*