Liver biopsies are used routinely in the assessment of graft dysfunction following liver transplantation and generally considered to be the most reliable method for the diagnosis of posttransplant complications with overlapping clinical and laboratory findings. To investigate posttransplant complications causing graft dysfunction and usefulness of liver biopsy, we analysed clinicopathologic features of 65 posttransplant liver biopsies, 2 autopsies and an explanted liver, taken from 20 patients. The frequencies of posttransplant complications were acute cellular rejection in 9 patients (45%), postoperative infection in 11 patients (55%), of which cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and systemic invasive aspergillosis with candidiasis occured in 10 patients (50%) and 1 patient (5%), respectively. Remainders were hepatic arterial thrombosis in two (10%), primary graft dysfunction due to fatty donor liver in one (5%), and posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) in two (10%). There were no chronic rejection or recurrent disease. Postoperative mortality was 25%. Histologic grade by Banff schema was well correlated with clinical parameters associated with unfavorable short term prognosis. CMV infection was associated with acute cellular rejection in 6 out of 10 patients (60%). Immunohistochemical staining for CMV was more sensitive method than CMV in situ hybridization or histologic detection of viral inclusion on tissue section. It was unique that one case of PTLD developed under the circumstances of the lowest dosage of immunosuppression and took grave outcome. Based on these results, we concluded that clinicopathologic correlation with integration of all the clinical and laboratory findings is necessary in the interpretation of accurate and early diagnosis of posttransplant liver biopsies. The interrelationship between chronic rejection and CMV infection as well as pathogenetic factors of PTLD remains to be clarified through further ongoing observation.
Aspergillosis ; Autopsy ; Biopsy* ; Candidiasis ; Cytomegalovirus ; Diagnosis ; Early Diagnosis ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; In Situ Hybridization ; Liver Transplantation ; Liver* ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; Mortality ; Primary Graft Dysfunction ; Prognosis ; Thrombosis ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants

PURPOSE: This study analyzed how the four nurse-related news items ‘talent show,’‘neonatal death,’‘nurse's death,’ and ‘sexual harassment’ were portrayed in Korean daily newspaper articles. METHODS: A total of 392 newspaper articles published from November 2017 to May 2018 were retrieved through the internet homepages of three newspapers, the Chosun Ilbo, the Dong-a Ilbo, and the JoongAng Ilbo and through a database for 13 other newspapers. Articles were analyzed for their views on nurses and their structural and contextual frames. RESULTS: Articles with the highest frequency of mentioning nurses' death appeared in the JoongAng Ilbo; these were written as straight news articles. In the analyzed articles, nurses were portrayed mostly as victims, troublemakers, passive, or selfish. Articles were written mostly in episodic, incident notice, or attribution of responsibility frames. CONCLUSION: It was not uncommon to read articles with negative views on nurses; most of these articles focused only the four major incidents as straight news type stories. Future efforts are needed to study the implications of newspaper articles with negative views on nurses and the frames most commonly used.
Internet ; Periodicals*

OBJECTIVE: This study was to investigate the factors that influence the propensity of Koreans in choosing care settings of dementia patients. METHODS: This study analyzed the data from the '2014 Nationwide Survey on Dementia Awareness of Koreans' that was conducted by the National Institute of Dementia. Korean's perception of care burden for dementia was measured with grading on its types. Also its influences on preference for care between facilities and homes were evaluated using multivariate analysis with socio-demographic characteristics. RESULTS: In terms of preferred care settings, respondents preferred facilities over homes in case of themselves and their family, respectively 77.5% and 68.2%. The preference for facilities was significantly influenced by the respondents' age for both themselves and their family. Additionally, the perception of relatively higher emotional and physical burden compared to economic burden significantly influenced preference for facilities for their family. CONCLUSION: Improving public awareness and setting-up a practical social supporting system are needed to reduce emotional and physical burden as well as economic burden of dementia. Furthermore, building up an appropriate and safer communities for dementia patients and their caregivers is much demanded for reducing their burdens.
Caregivers ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Dementia* ; Humans ; Multivariate Analysis

PURPOSE: Today's clinical nurses deal with complex problems that need accurate evidence for practice and decision making. In this study the effectiveness of an EBP education program was examined. METHODS: A pre-posttest design was used for this study and participants were 46 nurses working at a tertiary hospital located in Suwon, Korea. Date collection was done before and after the education program, from July 27 to October 2, 2015. Data were analyzed using paired t-test and ANCOVA with SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: There were significant differences in scores before and after the EBP education program for EBP readiness: belief (t=-5.65, p<.001), implementation(t=-2.89, p=.006), competence (t=-4.21, p<.001), and for evidence-based decision making (t=-16.25, p<.001) by the nurses. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that the EBP education program has positive effects on EBP belief, implementation, competence and evidence-based decision making. In the future, it is necessary to reinforce the content of the program in the clinical workplace and to provide continuous education for clinical nurses.
Decision Making* ; Education* ; Evidence-Based Practice* ; Gyeonggi-do ; Korea ; Mental Competency ; Tertiary Care Centers

BACKGROUND: Currently, the dosage of tacrolimus used after transplantation is based on the patient's body weight. However, there is a low correlation between body weight and body composition in kidney transplant recipients. In this study, we evaluate the pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus according to body composition in 18 Korean kidney transplant recipients with stable graft function. METHODS: Body composition parameters were calculated using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Pharmacokinetic profiles were determined 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours after treatment with tacrolimus and were compared between high- and low-level median body composition groups. The values of C0, C1, C2, C3, and C4 were used in determining an abbreviated area under the curve (AUC) for tacrolimus. RESULTS: The mean body mass index (BMI) and body composition values were as follows: BMI, 24.3 kg/m2; lean mass, 49.8 kg; and fat mass, 17.4 kg. There were no statistical differences in pharmacokinetic profiles between groups with different BMIs. However, the C0 and C4 in the high-fat group were significantly elevated compared with those of the low-fat group (P=0.024 and 0.031, respectively). Furthermore, the C0, C2, C3, and C4 and the AUC were significantly different between the two lean mass groups (P=0.007, 0.038, 0.047, 0.015, and 0.015, respectively). Other variables, such as waist circumference and arm muscle circumference, did not differentiate between the pharmacokinetic profiles of tacrolimus. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data suggest that tacrolimus dose monitoring based on body composition may provide adequate dosage leading to favorable long-term outcomes.
Adipose Tissue ; Area Under Curve ; Arm ; Body Composition ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Electric Impedance ; Kidney ; Muscles ; Tacrolimus ; Transplants ; Waist Circumference

BACKGROUND: Exercise-stress electrocardiography (ECG) is initially recommended for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. But its value has been questioned in women because of suboptimal diagnostic accuracy. Stress echocardiography had been reported to have comparable test accuracy in women. But the data comparing the diagnostic accuracy of exercise-stress ECG and stress echocardiography directly are few. The aim of the study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of exercise-stress ECG and dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) in Korean women. METHODS: 202 consecutive female patients who presented with chest pain in outpatient clinic, and who underwent treadmill exercise test (TET), DSE and coronary angiography were included for the study. The diagnostic accuracy TET and DSE were calculated by the definition of > 50% or > 75% coronary artery stenosis (CAS). RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity were higher with DSE (70.4, 94.6%) than TET (53.7, 73.6%) for detection of > 50% CAS. The higher accuracy of DSE was maintained after exclusion of the patients who could not achieve over 85% age predicted heart rate before ischemia induction. DSE also showed greater diagnostic accuracy than TET by > 75% CAS criteria, and in subsets of patient with intermediate pretest probability. CONCLUSION: In the diagnosis of CAS, DSE showed higher accuracy than TET in female patients who presented with chest pain. As well as the test accuracy, adequate stress was more feasible with DSE than TET. These finding suggests DSE may be used as the first-line diagnostic tool in the detection of CAS in women with chest pain.
Ambulatory Care Facilities ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Stenosis* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography, Stress* ; Electrocardiography* ; Exercise Test ; Female ; Head* ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Ischemia ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Spontaneous uterine rupture during the second trimester of pregnancy is a rare obstetric emergency. When a patient presents with acute abdominal pain and signs of hemorrhagic shock, a number of differential diagnoses must be considered. Early diagnosis and proper management is necessary to decreased the high maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality associated with rupture of uterus. We present a case of spontaneous rupture of the uterus in the 18th week of pregnancy with a brief review of literatures.
Abdominal Pain ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Early Diagnosis ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Mortality ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Pregnancy* ; Rupture ; Rupture, Spontaneous ; Shock, Hemorrhagic ; Uterine Rupture* ; Uterus

Although occupational low back pain accounts for 20~40% of all occupational illness and injury, there are limited numbers of studies regarding the effectiveness of back school program. The objective of this study was to evaluate the economic benefit of back school program for early return to work of occupational low back pain patients in the current occupational injury compensation and management system. The cost-benefit analysis in this study was conducted to evaluate the relative magnitude of benefit to cost. The total cost was estimated by calculating the value of components in back school program according to governmental budget protocol. The back school program was consisted of three major approaches, pain center, work-hardening program and functional restoration program and each of components had various facilities and experts. The total amount of cost was estimated as 250,866,220 won per year. The most promising type of back school program were quite intensive (a 3 to 5-week stay in a specialized center), therefore, if we adopted the 5-week stay course, 10 courses could be held in a year. Following to the medical act, 20 patients per doctor could participate in a each course, ie, total 200 patients in a year. As a result, we could estimate the cost of 1,254,331 won a patient. we estimated the benefit by using data of a few local labor offices about average medical treatment beneficiary and off-duty beneficiary of 46 occupational low back pain patients in 1994. Ullman and Larsson(1977) mentioned that the group of chronic low back pain patients who participated in back school program needed less time to recover by 48.4% of beneficiary duration. And in the trying to estimate the benefit, we asked 10 rehabilitation board certificate doctors about reduction proportion of treatment cost by introducing back school program. The answered reduction proportions were in the range of 30~45%, average 39%. As a final result, we could see that the introduction of back school program in treatment of chronic occupational low back pain patients could produce the benefit to cost ratio as 3.90 and 6.28. And we could conclude that the introduction of back school program was beneficial to current occupational injury compensation and management system.
Budgets ; Compensation and Redress ; Cost-Benefit Analysis* ; Health Care Costs ; Humans ; Low Back Pain* ; Occupational Injuries ; Pain Clinics ; Rehabilitation ; Return to Work

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the food behavior and nutritional status of elementary school students in the Jeju area using Nutrition Quotient (NQ). METHODS: The subjects were 440 students (235 boys and 205 girls) in the fifth and sixth grade at four elementary schools located in Jeju. Demographic, lifestyle, and environmental information was collected using a self-reported questionnaire. The food behavior checklist for children's Nutrition Quotient (NQ), consisting of 19 items, and nutrition education related information were also obtained. RESULTS: The mean score of the children's NQ was poor, reaching 60.3 points. The percentage distribution of NQ grade was 19.8% (lowest), 18.6% (low), 45.0% (medium), 10.7% (high), and 5.9% (highest) and the factor scores for balance, diversity, abstinence, regularity, and practice were 56.6, 68.4, 71.3, 57.4, and 54.8 points, respectively. Compared with the NQ cut-off points for defining malnutrition (balance; 57, diversity; 87, abstinence; 66, regularity; 69, and practice; 67 point), average score of abstinence factor was only above the cut-off point and scores of the other factors were below the cut-off point. Subjects with higher NQ scores tended to have higher levels of exercise activity (p < 0.001), frequency of family meals (p < 0.01), and father's educational levels (p < 0.01) compared to those with lower NQ score. NQ score showed positive association with nutrition education experience and practice (p < 0.001) CONCLUSION: NQ score of elementary school students residing in Jeju was lower than the national average. More opportunities should be provided for participation in nutrition education, which incorporates a range of program strategies, as well as communication and education activities.
Checklist ; Child ; Education ; Humans ; Life Style ; Malnutrition ; Meals ; Nutritional Status*

Group occupational health service programme started in 1990 is one of the measures to cope with limited human and financial resources in occupational health. The programme has expanded rapidly to include 52 institutions, private as well as public, all over the country. In spite of its potential impact on health of employees and practice of occupational health in small and medium sized industries, comprehensive evaluation in terms of quality has not been tried. This study has aims to develop the criteria to assess the quality of newly developed group occupational health service programme, and to investigate the quality of institutions, and finally to develop policies for the quality improvement. 1) Criteria development : By defining occupational health services, in particular for small and medium sized industries, as one of the primary health care, followings are included as core elements of qualitative occupational health programme ; accessibility, continuity, comprehensiveness, technical quality, intersectoral collaboration, emphasis on preventive services, community participation, and adequacy. Again each element is divided into five major components of national health system infrastructure developed by the World Health Organization ; development of health resources, organized arrangement of resources, delivery of health care, economic support, and management. In turn, each component is categorized into three aspects of quality assessment, structure, process and outcome. Expert panel selected several criteria for each category to evaluate the programme. Criteria were modified according to each group of interviewees, to produce two sets of questionnaire, one for chief operating officer and another for nurses in the institutions, and the chief operating officer and workers in the workplace. 2) Subject : Of all 52 institutions, 25 voluntarily participated in the survey. At individual institution, chief operating officer and practicing nurses were interviewed in depth. After intensive education for interviewees, every interview was performed with standardized guideline and questionnaire. The quality of the 'Group occupational health service programme' was found to be lower than expected. Especially In continuity, comprehensiveness, technical quality, community participation and adequacy, lower quality in structural aspect was commonly identified throughout all the institutions. Quality in terms of accessibility and continuity highly varied among institutions. To improve quality of the programme, more comprehensive and systematic programme such as accreditation has to be introduced. In addition, human resources, governmental fund and information systems for individual workers are to be developed. As a long range plan, integration of occupational health services into the national health systems and pooling of financial resources and planned allocation should be considered.
Accreditation ; Consumer Participation ; Cooperative Behavior ; Delivery of Health Care ; Education ; Financial Management ; Health Resources ; Humans ; Information Systems ; Korea* ; Occupational Health Services* ; Occupational Health* ; Primary Health Care ; Quality Improvement ; Questionnaires ; Social Welfare ; World Health Organization