No abstract available.
Child* ; Humans ; Pheochromocytoma*

PURPOSE: This study was done to identify the factors of decisional balance for smoking cessation among middle aged men in Korea. This was composed of a set of variables at the level of decision making when middle aged men decide to stop smoking. It was used to classify and identify the characteristics of the stages of change for smoking cessation to which the middle aged men belong, and was used to identify the variables of decisional balance which influenced the stages of change for smoking cessation in middle aged men. METHODS: A convenience sample of 169 men who had smoked and were smoking, were between age 30 and 60 and lived in Seoul(mean age=44), were selected from the community. The data was collected from December 10, 1999 to February 28, 2000. The research instrument was the Decisional Balance Measure for Smoking Cessation (Velicer et al., 1985), and Stage of Change Measure(DiClemente et al., 1991). The data were analyzed using the SAS Program. RESULTS: 1. According to stage of change measure, the 169 subjects were distributed in each stage of change for smoking cessation: in the pre-contemplation stage 63 subjects (32.7%), contemplation stage 60 subjects (35.5%), preparation stage 17 subjects (10.1%), and maintenance stage 29 subjects(17.2%). 2. Factor analysis identified 4 factors of decisional balance as appropriate factors for smoking cessation of middle aged men. There were named by the researchers; 1)'Perceived Burden to Self', 2) 'Perceived Benefit to Others' 3)'Perceived Approval to Others', and 4)'Perceived Disapproval to Self'. 3. Analysis of variance showed that the three components, 1)'Perceived Burden to Self(F=8.50, P=0.0001)', 2) 'Perceived Benefit to Others(F=3.19, P=0.025)' and 3)'Perceived DisApproval to Self(F=2.87, P=0.038)were significantly associated with stage of change. 4. Through discriminant analysis, it was found that 'Perceived Burden to self' was the most influential variable in discriminating the four stages of change(pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, and maintenance). CONCLUSION: The results are consistent with the application of the Transtheoretical model, which has been used to understand how people change health behavior. Even though this study is a cross-sectional, not a longitudinal study, the findings of this study give useful information for smoking cessation intervention for the middle aged men.
Decision Making ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Middle Aged* ; Smoke* ; Smoking Cessation* ; Smoking*

Purpose: Pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) holds promise as a significant prognostic factor to predict NAC response in breast cancer patients. The absolute peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) count has been suggested as an independent predictor of response to NAC. The current study evaluated the relationship between pCR and the change of PBL count in patients treated with NAC. Methods: A total of 61 patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer treated with NAC followed by mastectomy between January 2010 and December 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Correlational analyses confirmed a statistically significant relationship between PBL count and pCR. Following conformational correlational analyses, patients were divided into two groups according to cutoff values using the receiver operating characteristics curve and a logistic regression was conducted to determine the optimal conditions for achieving pCR. Results: A total of 14 patients (22.9%) achieved pCR. Most PBL counts decreased after NAC relevant to pCR. Logistic regression analysis revealed that a small decrease of PBL was associated with pCR (P=0.028). The cutoff value of PBL decrease was 755×106/L, which was used to divide patients into high and low reduction groups. The pCR rate was 11.43% and 38.46% for the high and low reduction group, respectively (area under the curve, 0.707; 95% confidence interval, 0.556–0.858; P=0.020). The high reduction group was found to have more difficulty achieving pCR. Conclusion The decrease of PBL is significantly associated with pCR. Our data support that the decrease of PBL after NAC may be useful factors in predicting the response to NAC in breast cancer patients.

Purpose: Pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) holds promise as a significant prognostic factor to predict NAC response in breast cancer patients. The absolute peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) count has been suggested as an independent predictor of response to NAC. The current study evaluated the relationship between pCR and the change of PBL count in patients treated with NAC. Methods: A total of 61 patients with histologically confirmed breast cancer treated with NAC followed by mastectomy between January 2010 and December 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Correlational analyses confirmed a statistically significant relationship between PBL count and pCR. Following conformational correlational analyses, patients were divided into two groups according to cutoff values using the receiver operating characteristics curve and a logistic regression was conducted to determine the optimal conditions for achieving pCR. Results: A total of 14 patients (22.9%) achieved pCR. Most PBL counts decreased after NAC relevant to pCR. Logistic regression analysis revealed that a small decrease of PBL was associated with pCR (P=0.028). The cutoff value of PBL decrease was 755×106/L, which was used to divide patients into high and low reduction groups. The pCR rate was 11.43% and 38.46% for the high and low reduction group, respectively (area under the curve, 0.707; 95% confidence interval, 0.556–0.858; P=0.020). The high reduction group was found to have more difficulty achieving pCR. Conclusion The decrease of PBL is significantly associated with pCR. Our data support that the decrease of PBL after NAC may be useful factors in predicting the response to NAC in breast cancer patients.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of mechanical interventions for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis in surgical intensive care unit (SICU) patients. METHODS: The participants were assigned to the intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) and graduated compression stocking (GCS) intervention. Patients who met the criteria were selected for comparison from our previous study. Data for 140 patients were included in the final analysis. RESULTS: The mean age was 57.5 (+/-15.7) and 61.4% were men. About forty-seven percent of the participants were 61 years or over. In the second duplex scan, 3, 2 and 1 critically ill patients developed deep vein thrombosis in the control, GCS, and IPC groups, respectively. Incidences of DVT were 6.0%, 5.0%, and 2.0% for the control, GCS, and IPC groups, respectively. This difference was not significant. Relative risks of no intervention were 3.0 and 1.2 compared with IPC and GCS application. There were no significantly different variables among the three groups before the intervention except for diagnosis on admission. CONCLUSION: Although it may difficult to conclude that mechanical prophylaxis effectively prevents DVT among SICU patients because there was no statistical significance in this study, but incidence rates among the three groups differed greatly. The findings reveal that further study should be conducted with larger samples and randomized controlled trial for SICU patients.
Critical Care ; Critical Illness ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Critical Care ; Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Devices ; Male ; Pilot Projects* ; Stockings, Compression* ; Venous Thrombosis*

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate mothers’ questions related to parenting young children in the internet community. Methods: One representative in the internet community was selected and parenting questions were collected over 2 weeks in October 2019. A total of 15,016 questions were analyzed by frequency and proportion after categorizing of 10 themes; health and daily care, connecting and communicating, play and learning, development and growth, poos and wees, sleep, feeding, solid foods, safety, behavior. Results: The most frequently asked questions per age ranged from 1 to 3 months (32.2%). The most frequently asked questions by theme per age were about feeding newborn up to 6 months, solid foods from 7 to 12 months, health and daily care from 13 to 24 months, and play and learning from 25 to 71 months. Conclusion As these results reflect mother’s need for information and support, it is suggested that more specific and targeted online/offline support per age should be developed.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the attitude of nurses toward transsexuals. METHOD: The Q-methodology which provides a method of analyzing the subjectivity of each item was used. Twenty-nine nurses classified the 50 selected Q-statements into a normal distribution using a 9 point scale. The collected data was analyzed using the Quanl PC program. RESULT: Four types of attitudes toward transsexuals were identified. The first type (humanitarian acceptance) showed an attitude of respecting transsexuals as human beings and understanding and accepting their desires and difficulties. The second type (superficial understanding) understood the psychological conflicts and suffering of transsexuals but could not accept them as members of families or society. The third type (insufficient understanding) did not feel a sense of rejection toward transsexuals but showed a lack of understanding of their desires and difficulties. The fourth type (rejection) failed to understand the desires and difficulties of transsexuals and showed a sense of rejection toward them, in addition to regarding them as sexually immoral people. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that different approaches of educational programs based on the four types of attitudes toward transsexuals are recommended.
Adult ; *Attitude of Health Personnel ; Demography ; Female ; Humans ; Models, Educational ; Nursing Staff/*psychology ; Q-Sort ; Questionnaires ; *Transsexualism

Varicella is usually considered to be a benign disease in healthy children; however, serious complications can occur such as necrotizing fasciitis and toxic shock syndrome. We describe a 38-month-old girl with necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome following varicella. She was previously healthy and vaccinated against varicella at 12 months of age. She had been diagnosed with varicella three days prior to presenting at our facility; she developed fever, vomiting, and painful swelling on her left flank. Her skin lesions worsened, she became lethargic, and had episodes of hypotension and coagulopathy. Necrotizing fasciitis on the left abdominal wall, buttocks, and left thigh was diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging, and group A Streptococcus was isolated from a tissue culture. She was diagnosed as necrotizing fasciitis and streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, and successfully treated with repeated surgical debridement and fasciotomy, in addition to intensive antibiotics. Our experience suggests that necrotizing fasciitis in patients with varicella should be considered to be a rare complication even with widespread vaccine use. Early diagnosis and intensive treatment are required to prevent a fatal outcome.
Abdominal Wall ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Buttocks ; Chickenpox* ; Child* ; Child, Preschool ; Debridement ; Early Diagnosis ; Fasciitis, Necrotizing* ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Fever ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Shock, Septic* ; Skin ; Streptococcus ; Streptococcus pyogenes ; Thigh ; Vomiting

Gross hematuria is uncommon, and rarely associated with hydronephrosis in healthy children. We describe a 3-year-old boy who complained of gross hematuria and dysuria. He was diagnosed as cystitis with bilateral hydronephrosis, and treated with antibiotics and conservative therapy. Our experience suggests that cystitis with hydronephrosis can occur in healthy children presenting with gross hematuria.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Child ; Cystitis ; Dysuria ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Hydronephrosis ; Preschool Child

Background: Cervical cancer is a prevalent malignancy that is a major health problem for women worldwide. The cancer-preventive properties of metformin are well-known, but insufficient data have been reported regarding its relationship to cervical cancer. Therefore, in a nationwide population-based study, we investigated the association between metformin use and cervical cancer incidence in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used the Korean National Health Insurance claims database. Individuals newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between January 2005 and December 2009 were included. The occurrence of cervical cancer was explored by matching for age, economic status, region of residence, and use of anti-diabetic medication. Results: In total, 66,013 metformin users and 64,756 non-users were analyzed. Cervical cancer occurred in 219 metformin users (0.33%) and 274 metformin non-users (0.42%) (hazard ratio [HR], 0.783; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.655 to 0.036; P=0.007). Moreover, cervical cancer risk was considerably reduced in those treated with a high dose (>1,200,000 mg) or for an extended period (≥2,000 days) compared to non-users (HR, 0.151; 95% CI, 0.093 to 0.243; P<0.001; and HR, 0.141; 95% CI, 0.077 to 0.258; P<0.001). The incidence was also significantly lower in metformin users among those over 50 years old (HR, 0.791; 95% CI, 0.650 to 0.961; P<0.001). Conclusion Metformin use in patients with newly diagnosed diabetes was associated with a lower risk of cervical cancer in Korea. Furthermore, a significant association was found between the use of metformin and cervical cancer in a dose- and duration-dependent manner and among those over 50 years old.