PURPOSE: This cross-sectional survey was undertaken to examine the differences of BSE (breast-self examination) performance and health beliefs between Korean and Korean-American women and to identify which factors influence the BSE based on the HBM variables. METHOD: The study subjects were recruited from both Korea(189 women) and Cleveland in Ohio, USA(146 women). The HBM variables were measured using a reliable and valid Health Belief Model Scale. The subjects were also asked whether or not they did a BSE in the last year. RESULT: The Korean-American women who performed the BSE was statistically higher than that of Korean women. Regarding to the BSE-related health belief, the scores of benefits, confidence, and health motivation was significantly higher in Korean-American. After controlling for living places, age, education, and job, barriers and confidence variables significantly explained the BSE performance of Korean and Korean-American women. CONCLUSION: There was a differences in BSE-related health belief and performance between Korean and Korean-American women. Among health belief variables, barriers and confidence were core variables predicting the BSE performance of Korean and Korean-American women together.
Adult ; Aged ; Asian Americans/*psychology ; Attitude to Health/*ethnology ; Breast Neoplasms/*psychology ; Breast Self-Examination/*psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Korea/ethnology ; Middle Aged

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Thrombopoietin (TPO) is an important cytokine for megakaryocyte maturation and platelet production. Because the main site of its production is liver, the failing liver may have a role in thrombocytopenia in chronic liver disease. The aims of this study were to determine the serum TPO levels in cirrhotic patients with thrombocytopenia and clarify the relation between the serum TPO levels and liver function impairment. METHOD: Cirrhotic paitents with thrombocytopenia (LC, n=57, Child class A/B/C; 20/13/24), chronic hepatitis patients (CH, n=24), oncologic patients with thrombocytopenia induced by chemotherapy (HO, n=7), acute viral hepatitis patients (AVH, n=5) and healthy controls (HC, n=5) were enrolled. Serum TPO was measured by an ELISA method. RESULTS: Although the mean platelets counts of LC (69+/-32, x103/ul: mean+/-SD) were lower than those of HC (229+/-29, x103/ul), serum TPO levels in LC (108+/-63 pg/ml: mean+/-SD) were not significantly different from HC (122+/-24 pg/ml). In HO, serum TPO was significantly higher than LC (623+/-746 vs 108+/-63 pg/ml, p<0.05) inspite of comparable platelets counts. In LC, serum TPO level was not significantly different among Child class groups. It was not correlated with serum ALT, serum albumin levels, prothrombin time, serum bile acid, Child class, Child score and partial thromboplastin time, but weakly correlated with serum total bilirubin (p=0.038, r=0.288) and platelet counts (p=0.041, r=0.287). CONCLUSIONS: Although impaired hepatic production of TPO seems to be the main cause of low serum TPO levels in thrombocytopenic cirrhotic patients, there was no correlation between serum TPO level and the severity of liver dysfunction. The role of other factors such as megakaryocyte mass in bone marrow, portal hypertension and hypersplenism may be necessary to explain the putative mechanism between TPO and platelet numbers in liver cirrhosis with thrombocytopenia.
Bile ; Bilirubin ; Blood Platelets ; Bone Marrow ; Child ; Drug Therapy ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Humans ; Hypersplenism ; Hypertension, Portal ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases ; Megakaryocytes ; Partial Thromboplastin Time ; Platelet Count ; Prothrombin Time ; Serum Albumin ; Thrombocytopenia* ; Thrombopoietin*

We report a case of gastric adenoma which was found incidentally on 18F-FDG PET/CT study for cancer screening in asymptomatic patient. It showed focal and intensely increased FDG uptake in the antrum of stomach. On the gastroduodenoscopy, it showed flat elevated lesion with irregular margin. Histologically, the lesion was confirmed gastric adenoma with high grade dysplasia and removed by endoscopic mucosal resection.
Adenoma* ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Humans ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography ; Stomach

PURPOSE: Ego-integrity in older adults is the central concept related to quality of life in later life. Therefore, for effective interventions to enhance the quality of later life, a scale to measure ego-integrity in older adults is necessary. This study was carried out to develop a scale to measure ego-integrity in older adults. METHODS: This study utilized cronbach's alpha in analyzing the reliability of the collected data and expert group, and factor analysis and item analysis to analyze validity. RESULTS: Seventeen items were selected from a total of 21 items. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency was .88 for the 17 items of ego-integrity in the older adults scale. Three factors evolved by factor analysis, which explained 50.71% of the total variance. CONCLUSIONS: The scale for measuring ego-integrity in Korean older adults in this study was evaluated as a tool with a high degree of reliability and validity.
Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; *Ego ; Female ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Questionnaires ; Self Concept

The throat swabs obtained from 1,098 adults and 432 children patients with respiratory diseases were examined for Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection detected by culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Antimicrobial susceptibilities of the resulting 60 M. pneumoniae isolates were evaluated by testing minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of erythromycin, minocycline, tetracycline, josamycin, sparfloxacin, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin by a broth micro-dilution method. In a preliminary screening, the detection rate of M. pneumoniae by PCR was 29.2% (277/948) for the adults and 28.3% (90/318) for the children. In the second survey, the isolation rate of M. pneumoniae by culture was 29.3% (44/150) for the adults, and 14.0% (16/114) for the children. The PCR detection rate was 36.7% (55/150) for the adults and 23.7% (27/114) for the children. The MIC90s of the M. pneumoniae isolates were 0.015 mg/ml for erythromycin, lower than 0.03 mg/ml for josamycin, 0.06 mg/ml for sparfloxacin and minocycline, 0.12 mg/ml for tetracycline, 0.5 mg/ml for ofloxacin and CFC-222, and 1.0 mg/ml for ciprofloxacin. The isolates were susceptible to erythromycin, josamycin, sparfloxacin, minocycline, tetracycline, and ofloxacin, but the 63.3% of them was resistant to ciprofloxacin. These results indicate that the PCR method has a significant potential as a rapid and sensitive method for early detection of M. pneumoniae infection in clinical specimens as compared with the culture method, but the PCR method could not provide any information concerning the biological chracteristics of M. pneumoniae strains. Erythromycin, josamycin, sparfloxacin, minocycline, and tetracycline could be recommended as the antimicrobial agents of choice in Korea.
Adult ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Child ; Ciprofloxacin ; Erythromycin ; Humans ; Josamycin ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Minocycline ; Mycoplasma pneumoniae* ; Mycoplasma* ; Ofloxacin ; Pharynx ; Pneumonia* ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Tetracycline

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the knowledge level and assessment experience of nurses in regards to delirium, and to utilize the study results as baseline data for planning delirium education programs for nurses. METHODS: Subjects were 465 nurses who were working in a general hospital. A 'delirium related knowledge and assessment experience' questionnaire was used to collect data. RESULTS: Knowledge levels regarding delirium averaged 70 out of 100, and at each domain, they scored 87 for etiology of delirium, 62 for symptoms, and 69 for nursing management. The knowledge level of delirium was significantly different according to educational level (F=3.851, p=.022), past education related to geriatrics(t=2.471, p=.014), and awareness of need for in-service education on geriatric nursing(F=2.663, p=.032). About 85% of nurses had past experience of dealing with delirious patients and only 7.7% of nurses used delirious state assessment tools. CONCLUSION: According to the above results, it is necessary, not only to provide delirium related educational programs for nurses, but also to emphasize the usefulness of applying the assessment tool.
Delirium* ; Education ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Nursing ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: Ego-integrity in Erikson's stage theory is used frequently among health team members related to the care of the elderly and has specific meanings within the context of quality of life in later life. However, the concept of ego-integrity in the elderly has not been well articulated in the literature. This study was conducted clarify and conceptualize the phenomena of ego-integrity in the elderly. METHOD: A Hybrid Model of concept development was applied to develop a concept of ego-integrity, which included a field study carried out in Seoul, South Korea using in-depth interviews with old adults who were admitted as a right person for research subject according to attributes of ego-integrity analysed in the theoretical phase. RESULTS: The concept of ego-integrity emerged as a complex phenomenon having meanings in several different dimensions which encompassed several attributes. CONCLUSIONS: Ego-integrity is a concept having needs that should be treated in a specific way and it is possible to enrich the meaning and methods to manage ego-integrity in nursing interventions for promoting quality of life so that its application may have effects that have positive impacts on the elderly's well being.
Adaptation, Psychological ; Aged/*psychology ; Aging/psychology ; *Ego ; Female ; Geriatric Nursing ; Humans ; Korea ; Male ; Superego