Somatics refers to body work and movement study that emphasize internal perception and experience. Recently, a new perspective has emerged that views somatics-based techniques as a kind of mindful movement. Somatic techniques as contemplative movement can improve emotional regulation ability through improvement of body awareness or interoception. Based on this background, the present study attempts to develop a somatics based program suitable for a group of clinical patients suffering from emotional dysregulation. This study plans to collect quantitative and qualitative data in order to clarify how interoception and the related emotional regulation ability change after the program. These findings will help to explore whether the somatics technique has potential as an emotion regulation program in the future. In addition, the results are expected to contribute to finding an alternative treatment modality for patients who have not achieved a sufficient effect with conventional psychotherapy.

Somatics refers to body work and movement study that emphasize internal perception and experience. Recently, a new perspective has emerged that views somatics-based techniques as a kind of mindful movement. Somatic techniques as contemplative movement can improve emotional regulation ability through improvement of body awareness or interoception. Based on this background, the present study attempts to develop a somatics based program suitable for a group of clinical patients suffering from emotional dysregulation. This study plans to collect quantitative and qualitative data in order to clarify how interoception and the related emotional regulation ability change after the program. These findings will help to explore whether the somatics technique has potential as an emotion regulation program in the future. In addition, the results are expected to contribute to finding an alternative treatment modality for patients who have not achieved a sufficient effect with conventional psychotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the possible prognostic factors in patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma (LMS). METHODS: This study retrospectively investigated 50 patients with uterine LMS treated at the Samsung Medical Center between 2001 and 2017. To analyze the prognostic significance of factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS), and survival after recurrence, the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards model were used for univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients, 30 (60.0%) experienced recurrence and 16 (32.0%) died within a median follow-up period of 21 (range, 3–99) months. Multivariate analysis revealed that older age, absence of residual tumor after surgery, lower mitotic count, and a history of adjuvant radiotherapy at first treatment were significantly associated with better RFS. Presence of residual tumor after surgery and severe nuclear atypia were associated with poor OS. In the analysis of survival after recurrence, hematogenous recurrence, severe nuclear atypia, and presence of residual tumor at primary surgery were significantly associated with worse prognosis. Notably, residual tumor status at primary surgery was associated with RFS, OS, and survival after recurrence. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the possible prognostic factors for RFS, OS, and survival after recurrence for patients with LMS. These results may provide useful information for patients with LMS.
Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Leiomyosarcoma ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Uterine Neoplasms

“Comfort women” are survivors of sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, who endured extensive trauma including massive rape and physical torture. While previous studies have been focused on the trauma of the survivors themselves, the effects of the trauma on the offspring has never been evaluated before. In this article, we reviewed the first study on the offspring of former “comfort women” and aimed to detect the evidence of transgenerational transmission of trauma. In-depth psychiatric interviews and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Axis I Disorders were conducted with six offspring of former “comfort women.” Among the six participants, five suffered from at least one psychiatric disorder including major depressive disorder, panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder, insomnia disorder, somatic symptom disorder, and alcohol use disorder. Participants showed similar shame and hyperarousal symptoms as their mothers regarding stimuli related to the “comfort woman” issue. Increased irritability, problems with aggression control, negative worldview, and low self-esteem were evident in the children of mothers with posttraumatic stress disorder. Finding evidence of transgenerational transmission of trauma in offspring of “comfort women” is important. Future studies should include more samples and adopt a more objective method.
Adjustment Disorders ; Aggression ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Child ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Humans ; Methods ; Military Personnel ; Mothers ; Panic Disorder ; Rape ; Shame ; Slavery ; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Survivors ; Torture ; World War II

BACKGROUND: Thyroid hormones are one of the key factors involved in energy, lipid, and glucose metabolisms. Many studies have been conducted to establish the association between thyroid function and metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to identify the association between thyroid hormone and metabolic syndrome in euthyroid Korean male adults.METHODS: Using data from the sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2013 to 2015, this cross-sectional study of 2,285 male adults was conducted. Subjects who had thyroid diseases and were not euthyroid were excluded. The included subjects were divided into four groups according to free thyroxine (fT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels. We analyzed the prevalence and adjusted odds ratio of metabolic syndrome according to thyroid hormone levels.RESULTS: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components decreased constantly from the lowest fT4 quartile to the highest fT4 quartile. Compared with that in the lowest fT4 quartile, the adjusted odds ratio of hypertriglyceridemia in the highest fT4 quartile was 0.651.CONCLUSION: In euthyroid subjects, fT4 levels are associated with metabolic syndrome and all its components.
Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hypertriglyceridemia ; Korea ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Odds Ratio ; Prevalence ; Thyroid Diseases ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Hormones ; Thyrotropin ; Thyroxine

BACKGROUND: Increasing the influenza vaccination rate is important because influenza infection can cause serious illness or death. One way to increase vaccination rates is to expand the number of vaccination sites. This study examined the location of influenza vaccination in 2016 according to sex, age, socioeconomic status, and health behavior variables.METHODS: The study included 2,485 subjects from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey aged 19 years or older who had received the vaccine. Variables that could affect health behaviors were examined by the chi-square test or t-test. The odds ratios (ORs) of public health center inoculations between different income and education groups, adjusted for age and sex, were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression.RESULTS: People aged 65 years or older, those living in rural areas, those with low incomes, those with up to elementary school education, and those with underlying diseases had the lowest vaccination rates at medical clinics and hospitals (P-value<0.05). The ORs for public health center inoculations were significantly higher in those with lower incomes and those with elementary school education than in those with higher incomes and those with more than university level education (OR 2.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]; 1.67–3.77 and OR 2.60, 95% CI; 1.72–3.95, respectively).CONCLUSION: To improve the influenza vaccination rates at medical clinics and hospitals among groups with low vaccination rates, we need to actively encourage high-risk patients to receive vaccinations.
Adult ; Education ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Influenza, Human ; Logistic Models ; Nutrition Surveys ; Odds Ratio ; Public Health ; Social Class ; Vaccination

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the meanings of hands among clinical nurses.METHODS: A descriptive qualitative study design was used. Participants were 1,048 nurses working in a tertiary hospital in G city. From April to May 2018, an open-ended survey on how nurses felt about their hands and what their hands meant to them was conducted. The collected data were analyzed using MAXQDA 2018 version as well as content analysis.RESULTS: A total of 1,048 pieces of data were analyzed, and 2,094 units of analysis were categorized based on their attributes, resulting in physical, emotional, and social domains. The data in the social domain were reported in a narrative format; thus, they were analyzed using content analysis. Three themes and eight sub-themes were elicited. The three themes included “meaning as an instrument,” “meaning of infection control,” and “meaning of caring.”CONCLUSION: Nurses imbue essential meanings of caring on their hands even though they face negative skin symptoms. Furthermore, nurses understand the importance of hand hygiene on infection control. The findings of this study provide an in-depth look into nurses' perceptions of their hands.
Empathy ; Hand Disinfection ; Hand Hygiene ; Hand ; Infection Control ; Skin ; Tertiary Care Centers

“Comfort women” refers to young women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese military during World War II. They were abducted from their homes in countries under Imperial Japanese rule, mostly from Korea, and the rest from China, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Netherlands, etc. “Comfort women” endured extreme trauma involving rape, sexual torture, physical abuse, starvation, threats of death, and witnessed many others being tortured and killed. This article reviews all the studies that have investigated the psychiatric or psychosocial sequelae of the survivors of the Japanese military sexual slavery. Most importantly, a recent study which conducted a psychiatric evaluation on the former “comfort women” currently alive in South Korea is introduced. The participants’ unmarried rate was relatively high and their total fertility rate was relatively low. Majority of the participants reported having no education and being the low economic status. They showed high current and lifetime prevalence of posttraumatic disorder, major depressive disorder, somatic symptom disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and alcohol use disorder. Participants showed high suicidality and majority of the participants still reported being ashamed of being former “comfort women” after all these years. This article high-lights the fact that the trauma has affected the mental health and social functioning of former “comfort women” throughout their lives, and even to the present day.
Anxiety Disorders ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Birth Rate ; China ; Depressive Disorder, Major ; Education ; Female ; Humans ; Indonesia ; Korea ; Malaysia ; Mental Health ; Military Personnel* ; Netherlands ; Panic Disorder ; Philippines ; Physical Abuse ; Prevalence ; Rape ; Single Person ; Slavery* ; Starvation ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Survivors* ; Taiwan ; Torture ; World War II*

Radix Polygalae (RP) has been used to relieve psychological stress in traditional oriental medicine. Recently, cell protective, antiamnestic and antidepressant-like effects were disclosed but the possible application of RP to post-traumatic stress disorder, in which exaggerated fear memory persists, has not yet been explored. For this purpose, the effects of RP on fear behavior was examined in a mouse model of single prolonged stress and conditioned fear (SPS-CF), previously shown to mimic key symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Male mice received daily oral dose of RP extract or vehicle during the SPS-CF procedure. Then fear-related memory (cohort 1, n=25), non-fear-related memory (cohort 2, n=38) and concentration-dependent effects of RP on fear memory (cohort 3, n=41) were measured in 3 separate cohort of animals. Also working memory and anxiety-like behaviors were measured in cohort 1. RP-treated SPS-CF mice exhibited attenuated contextual but not cued freezing and no impairments in the working memory and spatial reference memory performances relative to vehicle-treated SPS-CF controls. RP-treated SPS-CF and naive mice also demonstrated no difference in anxiety-like behavior levels relative to vehicle-treated SPS-CF and naive controls, respectively. In the hippocampus of SPS-CF mice, expression of BAG1, which regulates the activity of GR, was decreased, whereas RP increased expression of BAG1 in naïve and SPS-CF mice. These results suggest that RP exerts some symptomatic relief in a mouse with exaggerated fear response. RP and its molecular components may thus constitute valuable research targets in the development of novel therapeutics for stress-related psychological disorders.
Animals ; Anxiety ; Cohort Studies ; Freezing ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Memory ; Memory, Short-Term ; Mice* ; Polygala* ; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic ; Stress Disorders, Traumatic ; Stress, Psychological

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is associated with repetitive head injury and has distinctive neuropathological features that differentiate this disease from other neurodegenerative diseases. Intraneuronal tau aggregates, although they occur in different patterns, are diagnostic neuropathological features of CTE, but the precise mechanism of tauopathy is not known in CTE. We performed whole RNA sequencing analysis of post-mortem brain tissue from patients with CTE and compared the results to normal controls to determine the transcriptome signature changes associated with CTE. The results showed that the genes related to the MAP kinase and calcium-signaling pathways were significantly downregulated in CTE. The altered expression of protein phosphatases (PPs) in these networks further suggested that the tauopathy observed in CTE involves common pathological mechanisms similar to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using cell lines and animal models, we also showed that reduced PPP3CA/PP2B phosphatase activity is directly associated with increases in phosphorylated (p)-tau proteins. These findings provide important insights into PP-dependent neurodegeneration and may lead to novel therapeutic approaches to reduce the tauopathy associated with CTE.
Alzheimer Disease ; Brain ; Brain Injury, Chronic* ; Cell Line ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Gene Expression Profiling* ; Humans ; Models, Animal ; Neurodegenerative Diseases ; Phosphoprotein Phosphatases ; Phosphotransferases ; Sequence Analysis, RNA ; Tauopathies* ; Transcriptome*