Metabolomics, a novel "omics" platform, is a powerful tool for the discovery of clinically useful biomarkers and biochemical processes to improve diagnosis and therapy. Through the use of advanced analytical technologies, metabolomics enables the assessment of comprehensive metabolic profiles that are affected by both genotype and environmental factors. Recently, attention has been focused on the concept of pharmacometabolomics, an emerging field that is derived from metabolomics. Pharmacometabolomics is focused on the use of individual metabolic signatures for the prediction and evaluation of drug efficacy and safety, eventually accelerating clinical pharmacology toward personalized drug therapy.
Biochemical Processes ; Biomarkers ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Genotype ; Humans ; Precision Medicine ; Metabolome ; Metabolomics ; Pharmacology, Clinical

Due to an author error the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant Number was incorrectly listed in the original online publication of this article.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to measure the level of job stress and health status and find out factors affecting the health status among circulation enterprise workers. METHOD: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The subjects were 128 workers whose mean age was 33.2 years. Korean occupational stress questionnaire Short Form was used to measure job stress. Todai Heath Index that was made by Aoki in 1977 and translated by Kim(1997) was used to measure the health status. RESULTS: The total job stress scores of men and woman fell in the lower 50% of Korean workers. Job autonomy and interpersonal conflicts as a subcategories fell in upper level 50% in both men and women and job insecurity fell in the upper level 50% in women. The mean score of health status was 51.47, indicating slightly higher frequency of complains of health symptoms. There was no significant correlation between total job stress and total health status. Finally, factors influencing the health status were organizational system and age. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to develop comprehensive stress management programs including interventions of personal and organizational levels for promoting workers' health.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: To determine traits related to pregnancy and delivery, length of stay, health care cost, postpartum discomfort, and satisfaction with medical service of puerperas giving birth in midwifery clinic and hospitals. METHODS: This study used a comparative survey design. Data were collected from a total of 140 postpartum mothers composed of 70 mothers who gave births in two hospitals and another 70 mothers who delivered in one midwifery clinic. RESULTS: Delivery in midwifery clinic had higher Apgar score at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth than hospital. Those who delivered in midwifery clinic had shorter stay in the clinic, fewer health care cost, less postpartum discomfort in physical, environmental, social, and cultural areas, higher satisfaction with medical services than those who delivered in hospitals. CONCLUSION: Results of this study can be used as a basis for studies on giving birth in midwifery clinic and hospitals. They might increase the autonomy of women in giving birth with positive effect on the delivery experience of the mother and her spouse.
Apgar Score ; Delivery of Health Care* ; Female ; Health Care Costs* ; Humans ; Length of Stay* ; Midwifery* ; Mothers ; Parturition* ; Personal Satisfaction ; Postpartum Period ; Pregnancy ; Spouses

PURPOSE: The aim of study was to identify the effects of exercise on the relief of low back pain in patients on absolute bed rest after TAE. METHOD: A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design research design was used. The participants were 43 patients who had received TAE in a university hospital; patients in the experimental group (21) received both exercise therapy and general post-op nursing care and in the control group (22) only the latter. The exercise program used in this study was modified from exercise for post CABG to exercise for post TAE, which deflect the movement of thigh in which the catheter was inserted, the lumbar region of the back and pelvis. RESULTS: First, Low back pain scores in the experimental group were lower than the control group. Second, The first dose of analgesics in the experimental group was delayed compared to the control group. Third, There was no significant difference in bleeding complications between the experimental group control groups. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the exercise program used in this study is effective for relief of low back pain in patients on absolute bed rest after TAE.
Analgesics ; Bed Rest ; Catheters ; Embolization, Therapeutic ; Exercise Therapy ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Low Back Pain ; Lumbosacral Region ; Nursing Care ; Research Design ; Thigh

Purpose: Based on the Reserve Capacity Model, this study investigated the effects of pre- and postmenopausal women’s socioeconomic status (SES) on depression, focusing on the mediating effects of self-esteem, happiness, and family relationship satisfaction with social network relationships. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved secondary analysis of national data on 771 perimenopause women gathered from the 16th Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS) 2021. A path analysis model was constructed to evaluate the relationship between SES, social network satisfaction, self-esteem, perceived health status, and depression. Data were analyzed using ADANCO 2.3.1 and Mplus 8.4. Results: Although SES had no direct effect on depression, it did affect depression through self-esteem, happiness, and satisfaction with family relationships. Conclusion The findings of this study indicate that perimenopausal women’s personal resources—psychosocial variables such as self-esteem and happiness—had a higher effect on depression than tangible reserves like SES. Therefore, interventions for enhancing self-esteem and happiness may prevent depression in perimenopausal women effectively.

PURPOSE: Cancer is the most frequent cause of death in Korea. Cancer screening can save lives through early detection. This study was to investigate major cancer screening rates and the reasons for not having been screening. METHOD: 210 participants of registered nurses from 5 general hospitals in Busan, Korea were completed a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with SPSS WIN 10.0. Results: The cancer screening rates of the subjects were 53.8% in Pap smear test for cervical cancer, 41.0% in gastroendoscopy for stomach cancer, 15.7% in mammograpy for breast cancer, and 3.8% in colonoscopy. And the higher proportions of having regular screening were 9,5% in Pap smear test and 2.9% in gastroendoscopy. The primary reason related to not having a screening test was 'seems to be healthy'. CONCLUSION: The findings showed the necessity of recognizing and educating Korean nurses to have a regular cancer screening for their health management.
Breast Neoplasms ; Busan* ; Cause of Death ; Colonoscopy ; Early Detection of Cancer* ; Hospitals, General* ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is a rare disorder characterized biochemically by the increased excretion of porphyrins and porphyrin precursors, including delta-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and porphobilinogen (PBG). AIP has variable clinical manifestations, such as acute abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, constipation, peripheral neuropathy, seizures, tachycardia, and hypertension. A 16-year-old girl presented with recurrent abdominal pain, vomiting, hypertension, seizures, hypercholesterolemia, and red urine. AIP was confirmed by clinical features and increased 24-hour urine ALA and PBG. AIP should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients who have abdominal pain, hypertension, and seizures when the results of all other tests are normal.
Abdominal Pain ; Adolescent ; Aminolevulinic Acid ; Constipation ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Hypercholesterolemia ; Hypertension ; Nausea ; Peripheral Nervous System Diseases ; Porphobilinogen ; Porphyria, Acute Intermittent ; Porphyrins ; Seizures ; Tachycardia ; Vomiting

Cellular prion protein, a membrane protein, is expressed in all mammals. Prion protein is also found in human blood as an anchorless protein, and this protein form is one of the many potential sources of misfolded prion protein replication during transmission. Many studies have suggested that beta-amyloid1-42 oligomer causes neurotoxicity associated with Alzheimer's disease, which is mediated by the prion protein that acts as a receptor and regulates the hippocampal potentiation. The prevention of the binding of these proteins has been proposed as a possible preventative treatment for Alzheimer's disease; therefore, a greater understanding of the binding hot-spots between the two molecules is necessary. In this study, the epitope mapping immunoassay was employed to characterize binding epitopes within the prion protein and complementary epitopes in beta-amyloid. Residues 23-39 and 93-119 in the prion protein were involved in binding to beta-amyloid1-40 and 1-42, and monomers of this protein interacted with prion protein residues 93-113 and 123-166. Furthermore, beta-amyloid antibodies against the C-terminus detected bound beta-amyloid1-42 at residues 23-40, 104-122 and 159-175. beta-Amyloid epitopes necessary for the interaction with prion protein were not determined. In conclusion, charged clusters and hydrophobic regions of the prion protein were involved in binding to beta-amyloid1-40 and 1-42. The 3D structure appears to be necessary for beta-amyloid to interact with prion protein. In the future, these binding sites may be utilized for 3D structure modeling, as well as for the pharmaceutical intervention of Alzheimer's disease.
Amyloid beta-Peptides/*metabolism ; Electrophoresis ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; *Epitope Mapping ; Epitopes/*metabolism ; Humans ; *Immunoassay ; Prions/*metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Recombinant Proteins/metabolism

PURPOSE: The purpose of the non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest study was to test the effects of self-directed nursing practice using peer-tutoring, on the level of confidence, performance and learning satisfaction of nursing students in practicing core nursing skills. METHODS: The data were collected from 80 junior nursing students at a nursing college in Daejeon before and after 3 weeks of intervention on practicing six core nursing skills, according to the highest order of priority. The subjects were divided into the peer-tutoring practice group (PTPG, n=40) and the lecturer-guided practice group (LGPG, n=40). The data were analyzed using mean, frequency, and t-test. RESULTS: The PTPG scored statistically higher than the LGPG on the performance of ‘indwelling urinary catheterization’ and ‘wearing protection equipment while entering quarantine room & disposing waste’ The PTPG scored statistically higher than the LGPG on the confidence of ‘indwelling urinary catheterization’ and ‘inserting intravenous catheterization’. The PTPG scored statistically higher on learning satisfaction than LGPG. CONCLUSION: The results showed that self-directed nursing practice using peer-tutoring could be effective for nursing students in improving proficiency in core nursing skills and might be applied to core nursing skills training.
Clinical Competence ; Humans ; Learning* ; Nursing* ; Quarantine ; Students, Nursing*