PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate the level of nursing students' awareness, attitude, safety climate, and performance of infection control, and to identify factors influencing performance. METHODS: The sample consisted of 239 nursing students from 5 nursing schools. Data were collected from November 15 to December 11, 2013 and analyzed by frequency, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple stepwise regression with SPSS/WIN 21.0. RESULTS: Of the participants, 216 (90.4%) had experienced contact with infectious diseases. The performance of personal hygiene was scored the highest followed by standard precautions, transmission precautions, and vaccination. There were significant correlations between awareness, attitude, safety-climate and performance. Awareness, safety-climate, attitude, contents of infection control education, and direct exposure to infectious disease collectively explained 30% of the variance in performance, and awareness was the most influential factor. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that performance of infection control by nursing students can be increased if awareness, safety climate, attitude, and contents of infection control education are improved, and exposure to infectious disease is decreased. These findings can be utilized to improve performance by developing education programs for infection control.
Climate ; Communicable Diseases ; Education ; Humans ; Hygiene ; Infection Control* ; Nursing* ; Schools, Nursing ; Students, Nursing ; Vaccination

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the usefulness of cardiac biomarkers in the evaluation of prognosis and cardiac involvement (CI) in patients with acute aortic syndrome (AAS). METHODS: A total of 260 AAS patients with the measurements of cardiac biomarkers were divided into 2 groups; the survived (n=215, 60.6±13.7 years, 110 males) vs the dead (n=45, 64.5±13.6 years, 19 males). N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), cardiac specific troponin-I (cTnI), C-reactive protein (CRP), creatinine kinase (CK), MB fraction of CK (CK-MB), and D-dimer were compared. RESULTS: NT-proBNP and D-dimer were significantly elevated in the dead group than in the survived group (3558.7±5497.2 vs 949.9±2307.3 pg/mL, p<0.001, 4.5±5.1 vs 2.0±3.2 ug/mL, p<0.001, respectively). CI was observed in 59 patients (22.7%), and NT-proBNP was significantly elevated in patients with CI than in patients without CI (2497.7±4671.3 vs 722.5±1489.1 pg/mL, p=0.034). In univariate analysis, Stanford type A, CI, NT-proBNP, and D-dimer were significantly associated with mortality, but NT-proBNP was the only significant independent predictor of mortality in multivariate analysis. By receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the optimal cut-off value to predict mortality was 517.0 pg/mL for NT-proBNP (area under the curve 0.797, sensitivity 86.7%, specificity 71.7%). CONCLUSION: The elevation of cardiac biomarkers is not infrequent in patients with AAS. NT-proBNP is significantly associated with CI and is an independent predictor of mortality in patients with AAS. The measurement of NT-proBNP would be useful in the risk stratification of AAS.
Biomarkers* ; C-Reactive Protein ; Creatinine ; Humans ; Mortality ; Multivariate Analysis ; Phosphotransferases ; Prognosis* ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Troponin I

BACKGROUND: High-dose chemotherapy is increasingly employed in many refractory malignant diseases. This therapy has been reported to increase response rate and survival benefits but it is also associated with higher treatment-related morbidity and mortality. We evaluated clinical characteristics and course of the pulmonary toxicity following high-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. METHODS: Ninety-seven patients who had received high-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplantation were evaluated. Five patients who developed lung lesions which were not related to infection nor primary malignant disease underwent transbronchial lung biopsy. The patients' clinical characteristics, treatments, and prognosis were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Five patients(5.1%) developed idiopathic pneumonia syndrome. The high dose chemotherapy regimens employed were cyclophosphamide, BCNU, and cisplatin in 3 cases, one case of BCNU, etoposide, Ara-C, cyclophosphamide combination, and a regimen consisting of BCNU, etoposide, Ara-C, and melphalan. The total dose of BCNU used was 300-400 mg/m2 and that of cyclophosphsmide was 6,000 mg/m2. All of 5 patients received radiation therapy before this treatment. After an average duration of 14 weeks (4-26 weeks) of high-dose chemotherapy, patients developed cough, dyspnea and fever. The chest X-rays showed bilateral diffuse infiltration in 3 cases and the focal infiltration in the other 2 cases. All the patients received corticosteroid therapy as a treatment for the lung lesions. Two of them progressed to acute respiratory distress syndrome and died. Three patients recovered without residual lung lesion but one of them died of dilated cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSION: High-dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplantation especially which containing BCNU regimen may develop idiopathic pneumonia syndrome related to pulmonary toxicity and corticosteroid therapy may be beneficial in some cases.
Biopsy ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Carmustine ; Cisplatin ; Cough ; Cyclophosphamide ; Cytarabine ; Drug Therapy* ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Dyspnea ; Etoposide ; Fever ; Humans ; Lung ; Melphalan ; Mortality ; Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation* ; Pneumonia ; Prognosis ; Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of the BACTEC MGIT (Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube) 960 system for mycobacteria culture and immunochromatographic assay to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in positive MGIT culture. METHODS: Mycobacteria-culture-positive cases were retrospectively analyzed from December 2010 to July 2011. The detection rates and the recovery times of the mycobacteria between the Ogawa media and the MGIT were compared. An immunochromatographic assay (ICA) (SD BIO-LINE) was also performed in the positive MGIT culture for identification, and the results were compared with those of the Ogawa media in the Korea National Tuberculosis Association. RESULTS: Among the 261 patients (M:F, 168:93; mean age, 61.6+/-17.16 yrs), 450 specimens (sputa, 365; bronchial washing, 61; and pleural effusion, 24) were found positive with mycobacteria. Mycobacteria were grown both on the MGIT and Ogawa media in 310 cases (68.9%); only on the MGIT in 115 cases (22.6%); and only on the Ogawa media in 25 cases (5.5%) (p<0.05).The recovery time was 28.2+/-8.9 days in the Ogawa media and 11.1+/-5.8 days in the MGIT (p<0.05). Among the 127 cases from the positive MGIT culture, all 92 cases that were confirmed as MTB cases bythe Korea National Tuberculosis Association were identified as MTB by ICA, with 100% sensitivity. CONCLUSION: MGIT increases the detection rate and shortens the recovery time of mycobacteria in clinical respiratory specimens, and the TB Ag MPT64 kit using ICA is useful in identifying MTB in a positive MGIT culture.
Humans ; Immunochromatography ; Korea ; Mycobacterium ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Pleural Effusion ; Retrospective Studies ; Tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: To compare the parameters of local carotid stiffness with those of global arterial stiffness and to investigate the effects of angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) on the parameters of local carotid arterial stiffness as well as global arterial stiffness. METHODS: The correlations of the parameters between local carotid and global arterial stiffness were compared at baseline, and the changes of these parameters were evaluated after 6 months of valsartan therapy in 50 patients with newly diagnosed hypertension. Diameter change, strain, and 2-dimensional circumferential strain (2D CS) of the carotid artery measured by speckle tracking method were used as parameters of local arterial stiffness, and the parameters of pulse wave velocity (PWV) and pulse wave analysis (PWA) were used as standard parameters of global arterial stiffness. RESULTS: Carotid 2D CS, not conventional strain or diameter change, showed significant correlation with age (r = -0.592, p < 0.01), brachial-ankle PWV (r = -0.338, p < 0.05), and augmentation index (r = -0.298, p < 0.05). After 6 months of medical therapy, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were decreased significantly (SBP: 155.9 +/- 14.2 to 137.6 +/- 10.5 mm Hg, p < 0.01; DBP: 90.1 +/- 11.8 to 81.6 +/- 8.0 mm Hg, p < 0.01). The parameters of PWV and PWA were significantly improved, but the parameters of carotid arterial stiffness were not changed significantly. CONCLUSIONS: In hypertensives, carotid 2D CS showed better correlation with ageing and the parameters of global arterial stiffness than conventional strain or diameter change of the carotid artery. Global arterial stiffness was improved by 6 months of medical treatment with ARB, but the local carotid arterial stiffness was not changed.
Angiotensin Receptor Antagonists ; Blood Pressure ; Carotid Arteries ; Humans ; Hypertension* ; Pulse Wave Analysis ; Receptors, Angiotensin ; Vascular Stiffness* ; Valsartan