BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the practice effect of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) after providing the subjects with knowledge of the results (KR). METHODS: Sixteen subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis volunteered to participate in this study. The 6MWT was performed by having the subjects take repeated walks along a 20-m walkway for 6 minutes; and the maximum distance walked was recorded. Two trials of the 6MWT were conducted under three conditions: no-KR, immediate-KR (providing knowledge of the time taken to complete each 20-m distance), and summary-KR (providing knowledge of the time taken to complete 60 m). RESULTS: The practice effects of all 3 conditions were determined by using the paired t-test, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with <0.75, and the Bland-Altman plot. The findings of the paired t-test showed a significant difference under the immediate-KR condition only; however, no significant differences were noted under the no-KR and summary-KR conditions. In a data agreement analysis across the two trials using the ICC, none of the obtained values under the three conditions were in an acceptable range indicative of a practice effect. In the Bland-Altman plot, a greater data variation was observed under the immediate-KR condition than under the other two conditions. When comparing the conditions, the immediate-KR condition differed significantly from the no-KR condition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings do not support the presence of a practice effect across the 6MWT. However, a practice effect seems to be clinically possible when the immediate-KR condition is incorporated into this test.
Gait ; Paresis ; Stroke

BACKGROUNDS: It is important to know the contents of health problems in patients in a primary care setting. The aim of this study was to explore the main chief complaints and major diagnoses of patients, who were admitted to a hospital using the ICD-10 and to observe difference according to each department and admission route and how diagnoses were made. METHODS: A total of 18,560 patients who were admitted to a hospital located in Chungnam Province from 1 Jan 1998 to 31 Dec 1998. Main chief complaints and major diagnoses made through the admissions departments were chosen as subjects (medical vs. surgical) and by admission route (emergency vs. OPD)were analyzed. How the diagnoses were derived from the most common chief complaints among medical and surgical departments were analyzed by admissions departments and by admission route. RESULTS: The most common 10 chief complaints revealed no significant difference by admission route in medical departments, but there was some difference in surgical departments. There was some difference in the most common 10 major diagnoses by admission routes in both medical and surgical departments. Abdominal and pelvic pain, which was the most common chief complaints, became a significantly different diagnosis by admission route in both departments. CONCLUSION: Main chief complaints were similar regardless of admission routes, but the diagnoses were different. ICD-10 classification may be useful to classify the diagnoses, but have limitations to classify chief complaints or reasons for encounter. It is necessary to introduce a new classification such as ICPC-2 for reasons for encounter in order to explore the dimension of health problems.
Chungcheongnam-do ; Classification ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; International Classification of Diseases ; Pelvic Pain ; Primary Health Care

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of IL-10 on development of collagen-induced arthritis, on humoral and cellular immunity and on the endogenous production of IL-10 in DBA/1J mice. METHODS: DBA/1J mice were immunized with chicken type II collagen in Freund s complete adjuvant. Murine recombinant IL-10 was given intraperitoneally twice a week from the day of second immunization (week 3) in doses of 0.002ug, 0. 02ug and 0. 2ug for 3 different groups, respectively. Dexamethasone was injected in one group to suppress the arthritis development and this group was used as negative control group. Levels of anti-collagen antibodies, serum IL-10 and stimulation indices of splenic monocytes to collagen were measured at the end of study. RESULTS: The 0. 02ug IL-10 and 0. 2ug IL-10 treated groups developed earlier and more severe arthritis (week 6 and 8) compared to that of the control group while the 0. 002ug IL-10 group has shown similar course to the control group in terms of incidence and severity of arthritis, At week 10, all groups with or without IL-10 injections developed arthritis with similar degree of severity while dexamethasone group showed far less incidence and severity of arthritis. The serum levels of anti-collagen antibody, IL-10 and spleen monocyte stimulation indices to collagen antigen showed no difference among control group, IL-10 injected groups and dexamethasone injected group. CONCLUSION: This study shows IL-10 could worsen the arthritis in CIA with the dosage used in this study without significant influence on the level of anti-collagen antibodies or stimulation indices of spenic monocyte to collagen.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Arthritis ; Arthritis, Experimental* ; Chickens ; Collagen ; Collagen Type II ; Dexamethasone ; Immunity, Cellular ; Immunization ; Incidence ; Interleukin-10* ; Mice ; Monocytes ; Spleen

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the rate of and factors associated with influenza vaccination in Korean elderly people. METHODS: For this retrospective cross-sectional study, we used data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008. A total of 1,516 men and women aged 65 or above were included. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. RESULTS: The overall rate of influenza vaccination in 2008 was 73.6%. The vaccination rate was lower in women (73.2%) than in men (74.2%; p<.001). It was lower in the elderly aged 80 and above, those living in metropolitan areas, smokers, those who did not receive regular health screening, those who had no history of hospitalization within one year, and those who had liver diseases than in the other groups. The rate of vaccination was higher in those with cancer. Logistic regression analysis revealed that for both men and women, the significant correlates associated with vaccination were demographic factors, chronic disease and health behavior. CONCLUSION: The influenza vaccination coverage needs to be improved. Efforts should be made to reach the elderly population with relatively low influenza vaccination rates and to increase awareness about the importance of vaccination at a personal and community level.
Aged* ; Chronic Disease ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Demography ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Influenza, Human* ; Liver Diseases ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Nutrition Surveys ; Retrospective Studies ; Vaccination*

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the process of psychosocial assessment, the experience of intervention, and the improvement after the disaster that Danwon high school students survived from the sinking of the Motor Vessel (MV) Sewol in South Korea on April 16, 2014. METHODS: We conducted in-depth qualitative research using individual interviews from January to February 2017. Twenty-one of 75 Danwon high school students survived by the MV Sewol disaster were studied. Two interviewers participated in the in-depth interview. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed through content analysis based on psychosocial assessment and intervention after the disaster. RESULTS: Twenty-one participants were 20 years old, where 10 were male (47.62%), and 11 were female (52.38%). More than 75% of the interviewed students felt that mental health services were needed, and more than 85% required mental health assessments. Regarding psychiatric symptoms, the students reported that they suffered depression and insomnia (19.05%), anxiety (14.29%), nightmares and phobias (9.52%), and difficulties regarding concentration, aggression, and game addiction (4.76%). CONCLUSION: Despite survivors experiencing the same disaster, there were differences in their responses to mental health assessments and interventions experienced during the three years, and conflicting opinions were reported. In planning future evaluations and interventions, it is necessary for strategies to cope with flexibly to consider the characteristics and symptoms of the survivors while maintaining principles.
Aggression ; Anxiety ; Depression ; Disasters* ; Dreams ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Mental Health Services ; Mental Health* ; Phobic Disorders ; Qualitative Research ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Survivors*

PURPOSE: This study was designed to assess the level of super-leadership and self-leadership, identify correlations among variables and identify the factors influencing organizational commitment of clinical nurses. METHODS: Participants were 217 nurses working in four hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson Correlation, and Multiple Regression. RESULTS: The most influential factor for organizational commitment was super-leadership (β=.28, p<.001), followed by education (β=.16, p=.007), the number of unit nurses (β=-.18, p=.003), self-leadership (β=.17, p=.008), and the number of patients being under 10 (β=.12, p=.046). These factors accounted for 23% of the variance in organizational commitment (F=13.46, p<.001). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest a need for strategies to improve organizational commitment of nurses by enhancing nurse' self-leadership through nursing managers' super-leadership.
Education ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Nursing ; Seoul

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of recombinant FSH (rFSH) and urinary FSH (uFSH) on the gene expressions of human endometrial stromal cells in vitro. METHODS: Endometrial tissue was obtained from a pre-menopausal women undergoing hysterectomy. Primary endometrial stromal cells were isolated and in vitro cultured with FBS-free DMEM/F-12 containing 0, 10, 100, and 1,000 mIU/ml of rFSH and uFSH for 48 hours, respectively. Total RNA was extracted from the cultured cells and subjected to real time RT-PCR for the quantitative analysis of progesterone receptor (PR), estrogen receptor alpha/beta (ER-alpha/beta), cyclooxygenase 2 (Cox-2), leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), homeobox A10-1 and -2 (HoxA10-1/-2). RESULTS: Both hormone treatments slightly increased (< 3 folds) the expressions of PR, ER-beta and HoxA10-1/-2 gene. However, ER-alpha expression was increased up to five folds by treatments of both FSH for 48 hours. The LIF expression by the 10 mIU/ml of uFSH for 12 hours was significantly higher than that of rFSH (p<0.01). After 24 hours treatment of two kinds of hormones, the expression patterns of LIF were similar. The 100 and 1,000 mIU/ml of rFSH induced significantly higher amount of Cox-2 expression than those of uFSH, respectively (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study represents no adversely effect of exogeneous gonadotropins, rFSH and uFSH, on the expression of implantation related genes. We suggest that rFSH is applicable for the assisted reproductive technology without any concern on the endometrial receptivity.
Cells, Cultured ; Cyclooxygenase 2 ; Estrogens ; Female ; Gene Expression* ; Genes, Homeobox ; Gonadotropins ; Humans* ; Hysterectomy ; Leukemia Inhibitory Factor ; Receptors, Progesterone ; Reproductive Techniques, Assisted ; RNA ; Stromal Cells*

Tubular apocrine adenoma (TAA) is a very rare sweat gland tumor. TAA and syringocystadenoma papilliferum (SCAP) rarely develop together in a nevus sebaceus (NS). Herein, we report on a 40-year-old Korean woman with TAA associated with SCAP that developed in a NS located on the scalp.
Adenoma ; Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Nevus ; Scalp ; Sweat Glands

The gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors (GIMTs) form a heterogenous group with controversy centering on both the cell of origin and the prediction of clinical behavior. They include a small group of tumors with mature smooth muscle or Schwann cell differentiation and a larger group with inconsistent or no evidence of differentiation. Tumors in the latter are now referred to as gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). A clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study was performed on 53 cases of GIMTs to identify cellular differentiation and predictors of clinical behavior. Fifty three cases of GIMTs could be histologically and immunophenotypically divided into three categories, 6 leiomyomas (11.3%), 4 schwannomas (7.6%), and 43 GISTs (81.1%). All leiomyomas (SMA desmin ) and schwannomas (S-100 ) were located in stomach and negative for CD34 and CD117. Thirty nine cases of GISTs were either CD34 (n=26) or CD117 (n=23) immunoreactive. Of these 39 GISTs, 26 were negative for myoid (SMA, desmin) and neural marker (S-100), 10 SMA desmin-S-100-, two SMA-desmin-S-100 , and one SMA desmin-S-100 . Two out of 4 GISTs, which were negative for CD34 and CD117, were immunohistochemically considered leiomyosarcoma (SMA desmin ). GISTs of small intestine had a tendency to be malignant than those of stomach. Pathologic grade of GISTs was not correlated with cellular differentiation. In 29 GISTs with clinical follow-up information, tumor size, mitotic counts, Ki-67 labelling index, tumor necrosis, mucosal invasion, and CD34 expression were significantly correlated with metastasis/recurrence.
Cell Differentiation ; Desmin ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; Intestine, Small ; Leiomyoma ; Leiomyosarcoma ; Muscle, Smooth ; Necrosis ; Neurilemmoma ; Stomach

INTRODUCTIONThis study was conducted to provide an overview of the community-based hypertension and diabetes control programme of 19 cities in Korea and to evaluate its effectiveness in controlling hypertension at the community level.

MATERIALS AND METHODSIn this longitudinal observational study, we analysed the data of 117,264 hypertensive patients aged ≥65 years old from the time of their first enrolment in July 2012 to October 2013 (up to their 2-year follow-up).

RESULTSThe hypertension control rate of 72.5% at the time of enrolment increased to 81.3% and 82.4% at 1 and 2 years after enrolment. Treatment continuity, completion of hypertension self-management education, and longer enrolment duration in the programme contributed to improvements in hypertension control rate.

CONCLUSIONThis programme was characterised by a public health-clinical partnership at the community level. Despite its simplicity, the programme was evaluated as a successful attempt to control hypertension among patients aged >65 years at the community level.

Aged ; Community Networks ; Humans ; Hypertension ; drug therapy ; Longitudinal Studies ; Patient Education as Topic ; Program Evaluation ; Republic of Korea ; Self Care