No abstract available.
Enterocolitis, Necrotizing*

PURPOSE: The prognosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) in elderly patients seems to be poorer than that in patients aged less than 60 years. This may be due to the lower tolerance for combination chemotherapy in the elderly. Aggressive combination chemo-therapy, which is the treatment of choice in intermediate and high grade NHL of adulthood, may be associated with unpredictab1y severe and lethal toxicity and worsened quality of life in the elderly. We investigated the treatment responses, toxicities and prognostic factors of NHL in elderly patients treated with combination chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We treated 116 elderly (>60 yrs) patients with NHL between January 1986 and June 1996 with adriamycin-containing regimens, such as CHOP (cyclo- phosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, prednisolone), BACOP (bleomycin, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisolone), and mBACOP (methotrexate, bleomycin, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisolone). Patients in this study ranged from 60 to 81 (median 67) years of age. Fifty-five percent of patients were in stage I or II and the rest (45%) were in stage III or IV. The histologic grade was predominantly (91%) of intermediate and high grade type. RESULTS: The treatment responses were complete (CR) in 55% and partial (PR) in 25%. The median durstion of CR was 32 (3-132) months. The CR rate was significantly higher in patients treated with RDI (relative dose intensity) > 75% than that in the patients treated with RDI < 75% (p 0.003), but there was no significant difference in CR rate between treatment regimens (p-0.38). At a median follow up of 48-months (range, 12 to 132 months), the estimated 5-year ovetall survival was 46%. Ann Arbor Stage (I, II vs III, IV), ECOG performance (0-1 vs 2-3), RDI (>75% vs <75%) and the treatment response were important prognostic factors in the univariate analysis, and the treament response (CR vs non-CR) was the only independent prognostic parameter in the multivariate analysis. The most frequent and severe toxicity associated with chemotherapy was infection with or without neutropenia. The rate of severe infection was significantly decreased in the patients supported with G/GM-CSF but not in the dose-reduction group (RDI<75% vs >75%). CONCLUSION: Our data suggests that achievement of the CR after combination chemotherpy is the most important prognostic factor in the elderly patients with NHL. Suboptimal chemotherapy (RDI<75%) reduced the complete remission rate without reducing the likelihood of developing severe toxicities. Optimal chemotherapy with supportive cares involving the use of hematopoietic growth factors may be needed to improve the treatment response and the survival in the elderly patients with aggressive NHL.
Aged ; Bleomycin ; Cyclophosphamide ; Dimethoate ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Therapy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Follow-Up Studies ; Hodgkin Disease* ; Humans ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neutropenia ; Prognosis* ; Quality of Life ; Vincristine

No abstract available.
Cactaceae* ; Dermatitis* ; Humans ; Leprosy*

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the effects of Nei-Guan accupressure using a wrist band on postoperative nausea and vomiting after middle ear surgery. METHODS: The study design was a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized posttest design. Forty patients were assigned into two groups of 20 patients, the wrist band group and the control group. In the wristband group, acupressure was applied with a wrist band on the P6 point at both wrists from 30 min before to 24 hr after anesthesia. RESULTS: The 1st hypothesis 'Applied wrist band groups will have a greater reduction in the nausea & vomiting grades by INVR than the control group' was accepted (t=2.303, p=.028). The 2nd hypothesis 'The Applied wrist band groups will have a greater reduction in the occurrence of nausea & vomiting than the control group' was partly accepted. The 3rd hypothesis 'The applied wrist band group will have a greater reduction in injection of antiemetics for 24 hr. post anesthesia than the control group' was rejected. CONCLUSION: Acupressure on the P6 point using a wrist band is effective to alleviate nausea for middle ear surgery patients.
Acupressure/*instrumentation ; Acupuncture Points ; Adult ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Ear Auricle/*surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Care/instrumentation ; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting/*therapy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identity the effects of a tailored health promotion program on rural residents' self efficacy, health problems and quality of life. METHOD: Data were collected from May 13th, 2006 to July 29th, 2006. The subjects were selected at Gajo-myeon, Geochang-gun, Gyeonsangbuk-do, Korea. Forty three residents were included in the experimental group and 39 in the control group. The 12-week health promotion program was given to the experimental group. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi2-test, t-test and ANCOVA test with the SPSS/Win 12.0 program. RESULT: The experimental group showed higher scores of self efficacy and quality of life than the control group, and a lower score of health problem than the control group. CONCLUSION: From the above results, it can be concluded that the tailored health promotion program for rural residents is an effective intervention for improving their self efficacy and quality of life and reducing their health problems. Therefore, it is necessary to spread the tailored health promotion program for residents in other rural areas in Korea.
Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Health Promotion* ; Korea ; Quality of Life* ; Self Efficacy*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify the health promotion behavior, health problem, perceived health status and farmers' syndrome of rural residents. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 637 adults of 19 primary health care post extracted from 1.875 primary health care post in Korea by quota sampling method. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation. RESULTS: The average score of health promotion behavior was 2.23. In the sub-scales, the highest degree of performance was 'nutrition', followed by 'spiritual growth' and the lowest degree of performance was 'physical activity'. The most prevalent health problem was ailments in 'musculoskeletal system', followed by 'fatigue', 'eyes and ears', 'cardiovascular system'. The mean score of perceived health status was 8.54. The prevalence of farmers' syndrome was 98.4%. Health promotion behavior showed a significant positive correlation health status and perceived health status showed a significant negative farmers' syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: With the above findings, rural residents' physical activity is less than urban residents', and the rural resident's score of perceived health status, musculoskeletal system and fatigue are lower than urban residents'. The farmers' syndrome of the rural people is high. A tailored health promotion program for rural community is needed to develop in the consideration of these findings.
Adult ; Fatigue ; Health Behavior ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Korea ; Motor Activity ; Musculoskeletal System ; Prevalence ; Primary Health Care ; Rural Population

No abstract available.
Humans ; Interleukin-2* ; Leukemia*

No abstract available.
Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune*

No abstract available.
Anemia, Iron-Deficiency* ; Iron*

No abstract available.
Blood Viscosity* ; Paraproteinemias* ; Plasma Cells* ; Plasma*