Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) of any severity can result in broad and persisting biopsychosocial sequelae. Depression after TBI occur at a greater frequency than in the general population, with estimates approaching 25% to 50% for major depression, and 155 to 30% for dysthmia. Acute onset depressions are related to lesion location and may have their etiology in biological response of the injured brain, whereas delayed onset depressions may be mediated by psychosocial factors, suggesting psychological reactions as a possible mechanism. Anxious depressions are associated with right hemisphere lesions, whereas major depressions alone are associated with left dorsolateral frontal and left basal ganglia lesions. However, there is insufficient information to postulate a specific neuroanatomic model for TBI-related depression.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain ; Brain Injuries* ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Depression* ; Psychology

The objectives of this study were to examine the changes of birth weight and relationship of birth weight with maternal age and parity. The study population included 13,634 single live births out of 14,346 births delivered at a general hospital in Busan between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1986. Data were obtained from the delivery record. In 1979 the mean birth weight of male was 3,074 gm and that of female to 2,985 gm. In 1986 birth weight of male was increased to 3,266 gm and that of female to 3,210 gm. Low birth weight (< or = 2,500 gm) incidence rate was 7.2% in 1977 and it was increased gradually to 10.4% in 1980 but decreased thereafter to 6.5% in 1986. Incidence rate of overweight infant (4,001 gm < or =) was 3.9% for 10 years and it ranged from 2.9% to 4.6% but no particular changing pattern was observed. The percentage of mothers who had history of induced abortion was decreased from 51.6% in 1979 to 45.1% in 1986. Also, stillbirth rate was decreased from 2.6% in 1977 to 1.5% in 1986. The proportion of the first and second births was increased from 85.4% in 1977 to 96.0% in 1986 and the proportion of mothers of 25-34 years increased from 72.1% in 1977 to 84.7% in 1986. The incidence rates of low birth weight and over weight infant are lower in the first and second births of 25-34 years old mothers than other parities and age groups. In creased mean birth weight and decreased low birth weight incidence rate indicate that the health status of newborn infants has been improved and substantial portion of these changes can be attributed to increase in family planning practice rate and delayed marriage. There is no evidence, however, for increasing incidence rate of overweight infant.
Abortion, Induced ; Birth Weight* ; Busan ; Family Planning Services ; Female ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Live Birth ; Male ; Marriage ; Maternal Age* ; Mothers ; Overweight ; Parity* ; Parturition* ; Stillbirth

The purpose of the study was to investigate two areas as a basis for providing an educational program for pulmonary rehabilitation. A) the learning needs about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and B) the perception of nurses of the same learning needs. The subjects consisted of 57 patients, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, at the general hospital in Seoul and 71 nurses, who were working in the medical ward. Data was obtained from a "learning need" questionnaire between October 29 and November 19, '99. Data was analyzed using SAS program for t-test, ANOVA, Scheff test. The result were as follows: 1. The learning needs of the nurses(mean 4.36 +/- .38) were higher than those of the patients (mean 3.56 +/- .83). (t=6.78, P=.001) 2. The highest ranked patient education needs were as follows ; a)"how to control dyspnea", b)"cause for activating dyspnea", and c)"how to minimize the necessity of oxygen in daily living": and nurses' learning needs were ; a)"how to cope with the risk situation", b)"management after discharge", and c)"how to control dyspnea". 3. In the patient group, those who had a college degree or higher education and paid their own hospital expenses were higher in the learning needs. According to the above results, we should consider an educational program which is realistic and effective for patients by evaluating the items the patients really want to learn about and how much they know about the evaluated items.
Education ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Learning* ; Oxygen ; Patient Education as Topic ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive* ; Rehabilitation ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency and characteristics of needlestick/sharps injuries (NSIs) in nursing students in Korea. METHODS: The study was based on a survey of questionnaires completed by 341 nursing students who had sustained at least one NSI during clinical practice in hospitals. RESULTS: The NSI incidence rate was 36.4%. Approximately half of the students reported two to four NSIs. Most (90.2%) of the NSIs occurred on the fingertips and were caused by a hollow-bore needle (46.8%) or lancet (45.8%). Some students were exposed to used needles contaminated with unknown pathogens (37.3%), HBs Ag (2.3%), Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) (0.8%), or HIV (0.6%). Students cited the reason for injury as carelessness, inexperience, hastiness, or recapping. Almost two-thirds of students who reported having experienced an NSI knew about post-exposure treatment. However, only one-third of the students with NSIs completed an official report. CONCLUSION: Korean nursing students lack knowledge about injury prevention, report procedures, and treatment after NSI. A revised educational approach with emphasis on occupational risk, skill development, and injury reporting is necessary to prevent NSI and to ensure that students obtain post-exposure prophylaxis.
Dietary Sucrose ; HIV ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Needles ; Needlestick Injuries ; Post-Exposure Prophylaxis ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Students, Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study is a descriptive survey research on factors related to fertility intention of nurses who work in general hospitals, by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior(TPB). METHOD: The research subjects are 674 nurses at the peak fertility age of 20-39 years old, who work in 4 general hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. RESULT: The mean score of subjects' fertility intention is 3.69 in 5-point scale. The fertility intention was significantly influenced by perceived behavioral control and subjective norm. CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that the fertility intention of the nurses in general hospitals was influenced by the TPB variables such as the attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. Thus, a comprehensive approach strategy is needed considering these factors.
Fertility ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Intention ; Research Subjects

No abstract available.

No abstract available.
Polyps*

OBJECTIVES: To determine differences of common personality profiles and coping mechanisms of medical students who prefer specific specialties (medicine and surgery), the authors evaluated the defense mechanisms of the medical students by using Ewha Defense Mechanisms Test. METHODS: The authors compared the defense mechanisms between two groups (medicine selection group and surgery selection group) who are in the senior year of the Soonchunhyang University School of Medicine. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in mean scores of the each defense mechanism and 4 groups of defense mechanisms divided by maturity level between the groups of students who selected medicine and surgery. But, frequency of major defense mechanisms were as follows; For the surgery selection group, the passive-aggression in the Immature defense mechanism and show-off in the Neurotic defense mechanism were significantly higher than in the medicine selection group. Contrarily, in the medicine selection group, humor in the mature defense mechanism as the major defense mechanism was significantly higher than in the surgery selection group. CONCLUSION: After analysis of the differences of frequency of major defense mechanisms between the two groups, there were no significant differences between the two groups in personality. However, the students of the medicine selection group used humor of the mature defense mechanism as a major defense mechanism in higher frequency than the surgery selection group. In situations of complications, anxiety and suffering, the use of the humor defense mechanism gave the students strength to endure these situations. Among these students, there is a high probability that many of them possess strong ego strength. Contrarily, the students of the surgery selection group did not express aggression directly, rather, they expressed these feelings indirectly through passive opposition. There was a high frequency of passive-aggression defense mechanism in dealing with feelings of aggression. Also, in the neurotic defense mechanism, compared to ability, excessive goals were set as was the resulting behavior. Especially, behavior was extremely sensitive to how others would evaluate those actions resulting in using show-off mechanism as a major defense mechanism in higher frequency by the surgery selection group. The results seem to be useful in understanding the student's optimal character for specific specialities that were selected by evaluating the differences of the common characteristics and coping mechanisms of each specialty group.
Aggression ; Anxiety ; Defense Mechanisms* ; Ego ; Humans ; Students, Medical*

OBJECTIVE: It has been thought that estrogen has neuroleptic like effect in women schizophrenic patients. This study aimed to investigate neuroleptic side-effects severity in women with schizohrenia and to investigate their putative association with variations in sex steroids over menstrual cycle. Based on the estrogen theory, The author hypothesized that parkinsonian side-effects would be exacerbated when estrogen levels were high. METHOD: 26 schizophrenic women were assessed using the ESRS(Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale) and estrogen analysis. Tests were conducted twice, in the mid luteal and mid follicular phase. RESULT: It was hypothesized that high level of estrogen would lead to an exacerbation of parkisonian side-effects but the results indicated that parkinsonian side effects decreased overall when estrogen levels were high. This effects were more marked for the group taking typical neuroleptics than those taking atypical neuroleptics. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that estrogen and progesteron may reduce the severity of neuroleptic indeced extrapyramidal side effects over menstrual cycle in women with schizophrenia. It was concluded that estrogen has different effects on dopamine dynamics in the mesolimbic and mesostriatal pathways according to estrogen, progesteron, catecol estrogen, prolactine.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Dopamine ; Estrogens* ; Female* ; Follicular Phase ; Humans ; Menstrual Cycle ; Prolactin ; Schizophrenia ; Steroids

This was designed to identify the relationship of perceived stress, ways of coping, and stress response in student nurses. The subjects of this study were 320 student nurses from two universities and three junior colleges located in Seoul. The data were collected from November 28 to December 10, 1997 by a questionnaire survey method. The instruments for this study were the perceived stress scale developed by Levenstein(1993), ways of coping scale developed by Lazarus and Folkman(1984), and the stress response scale developed by Choi(1991). The data were analyzed by SAS program, using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and ANOVA. The results are summarized as follows : 1. The mean score for the level of perceived stress was 2.55. 2. The mean score for the level of problem oriented coping was 1.61 and the mean score for the level of emotional oriented coping was 1.37. 3. The mean score for the level of stress response was 3.74. Stress was classified into nine factors and the order of scoring for the most frequent was; assignments(3.98), as a nurse(3.97), interpersonal relationship(3.88). 4. The relationship between perceived stress and stress response revealed a positive significant correlation(r=0.23, p=0.0001). 5. The relationship between emotional oriented coping and stress response revealed a positive significant correlation(r=0.22, p=0.0001). 6. The relationship between perceived stress and emotional oriented coping revealed a positive significant correlations(r=0.13, p=0.020). In conclusion, this study revealed that the level of perceived stress and ways of coping were important factors influencing the stress response of student nurses. Therefore, in consideration of perceived stress, ways of coping should be included in the development of a stress management program for student nurses. Further research with an expanded area and subjects is recommended.
Surveys and Questionnaires ; Humans ; Nursing* ; Seoul ; Students, Nursing*