The changes of prevalence and etiology of pediatric pneumonia from National Emergency Department Information System in Korea, between 2007 and 2014 / 소아과

PURPOSE: Understanding changes in pathogen and pneumonia prevalence among pediatric pneumonia patients is important for the prevention of infectious diseases. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data of children younger than 18 years diagnosed with pneumonia at 117 Emergency Departments in Korea between 2007 and 2014. RESULTS: Over the study period, 329,380 pediatric cases of pneumonia were identified. The most frequent age group was 1–3 years old (48.6%) and the next was less than 12 months of age (17.4%). Based on International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision diagnostic codes, confirmed cases of viral pneumonia comprised 8.4% of all cases, pneumonia due to Mycoplasma pneumoniae comprised 3.8% and confirmed cases of bacterial pneumonia 1.3%. The prevalence of confirmed bacterial pneumonia decreased from 3.07% in 2007 and 4.01% in 2008 to 0.65% in 2014. The yearly rate of pneumococcal pneumonia also decreased from 0.47% in 2007 to 0.08% in 2014. A periodic prevalence of M. pneumoniae pneumonia (MP) was identified. CONCLUSION: The increased number of patients with pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, pleural effusion, and empyema in 2011 and 2013–2014 resulted from an MP epidemic. We provide evidence that the frequency of confirmed cases of bacterial pneumonia and pneumococcal pneumonia has declined from 2007 to 2014, which can simultaneously reflect the effectiveness of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Ethanol extract of Allium fistulosum inhibits development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a leading cause of chronic liver disease and is closely associated with metabolic syndrome. In the present study, we observed the effect of ethanol extract of Allium fistulosum (EAF) on NAFLD and have suggested the possibility of using EAF as a natural product for application in the development of a treatment for NAFLD. MATERIALS/METHODS: The preventive effect on hepatic lipid accumulation was estimated by using an oleic acid (OA)-induced NAFLD model in vitro and a Western diet (high-fat high-sucrose; WD)-induced obese mouse model. Animals were divided into three groups (n = 7): normal diet group (ND), WD group, and WD plus 1% EAF group. RESULTS: EAF reduced OA-stimulated lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells in the absence of cellular cytotoxicity and significantly blocked transcriptional activation of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 and fatty acid synthase genes. Subsequently, we investigated these effects in vivo in mice fed either ND or WD in the presence or absence of EAF supplementation. In comparison to the ND controls, the WD-fed mice exhibited increases in body weight, liver weight, epididymal fat weight, and accumulation of fat in hepatocytes, and these effects were significantly attenuated by EAF supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Allium fistulosum attenuates the development of NAFLD, and EAF elicits anti-lipogenic activity in liver. Therefore, EAF represents a promising candidate for use in the development of novel therapeutic drugs or drug combinations for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.

Effects of Nei-Guan Acupressure on Nausea, Vomiting and Level of Satisfaction for Gynecological Surgery Patients Who Are Using a Patient-Controlled Analgesia

PURPOSE: This study was done to examine effects of Nei-Guan acupressure on nausea, vomiting and level of satisfaction for gynecological surgery patients who were using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). METHODS: For this study, 51 patients were assigned to one of three groups, a control group (17 patients), experimental group 1 (finger acupressure group) (17 patients), and experimental group 2 (relief band group) (17 patients). The data were collected for 24 hr in the recovery room of a university hospital located in Seoul. The 6 hr-intervals including the time of leaving the recovery room were taken into consideration. RESULTS: The occurrence of nausea between the experimental group with Nei-Guan acupressure treatment and the control group was different. However, there was no difference in nausea and vomiting control or level of patient satisfaction between the finger acupressure group and the relief band group. CONCLUSION: Nei-Guan acupressure is recommended for nursing practice as a way for alleviating the opioid-induced nausea and accelerating the recovery of patients who are using PCA after surgery.

Effects of Power Walking Exercise on Fatigue, Blood Lipids, and Body Composition in Overweight Korean College Students with Taeumin Constitution / 성인간호학회지

PURPOSE: To examine the effects of power walking exercise on fatigue and overweight in college students with Taeumin constitution. METHODS: According to results of the constitution diagnosis (QSCC II), 58 students who were identified as Taeumin, whose BMI was over 23 were assigned to one of three groups. The power walking group walked fast at a speed of 7,000 steps per hour using a pedometer, and the walking group walked at a speed of 5,000 steps per hour. There was no treatment with control group. Each group's fatigue level, blood lipids and body composition before and after the experiment were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: Total fatigue and total cholesterol decreased significantly in the power walking group compared to the walking group and the control group. Weight decreased significantly in the power walking group compared to the control group, and percentage of body fat decreased significantly in both the power walking group and the walking group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: When power walking exercise was used with overweight Taeumin students, fatigue, blood lipid, weight and percentage of body fat decreased significantly.

A Study Related to Self-Efficacy, Satisfaction with Practice and Fundamentals of Nursing Practicum / 기본간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among self-efficacy, satisfaction with practice and fundamentals of nursing practicum in student nurses. METHOD: The participants were 185 first year students at K College of Nursing in Jeonbuk Province who were taking a practicum for Fundamentals of Nursing and agreed to participate in the study. Data collection was done from November 19 to 30, 2007. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire on self-efficacy, satisfaction with practice and fundamentals of nursing practicum. Data were analyzed by SPSS-PC ver 12.0. RESULTS: Self-efficacy and fundamentals of nursing practicum were significantly different depending on satisfaction with major and school life. Satisfaction with practice was significantly different depending on relationship with schoolmates and school life. Self-efficacy showed a significantly positive correlation with satisfaction with practice and fundamentals of nursing practicum. Also, satisfaction with practice showed a significantly positive correlation with fundamentals of nursing practicum. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that self-efficacy helps student nurses to plan a self-directed nursing performance, improves their ability to solve problems and helps to perform fundamentals of nursing practicum well.

ERP System Performance in a Hospital / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVE: To measure the performance of a hospital enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and suggest various system improvements. METHODS: A survey based on a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire and an exclusive interview was administered to 102 employees with a one-year experience of using an ERP system at one university hospital. In order to analyze the factors affecting the ERP system performance, multiple regression analysis and Chi-square test were conducted. RESULTS: All three examined variables-system quality, information quality and integration of hospital information resources-affected the ERP system performance positively. However, the system quality variable had the lowest mean score indicating that the ERP system was difficult to understand for many users. User characteristics were not significantly associated with information quality satisfaction. CONCLUSION: On the basis of the study results, we recommended some suggestions to improve the ERP system performance. In order to reduce users' dissatisfaction with the new system, hospitals should publicize the needs of the ERP system for the employees, design more effective training programs, and provide more decision-supporting information for managers.

A Comparative Study o fIntavenous Methylprednisolone Dosage for Treatment of Children with Acute Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

PURPOSE: It is well known that use of intranenous methylprednisolone(IVMP)for the patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura(ITP) is not only as effective as use of intravenous gammaglobulin to mincrease platelets quickly, but also the former is less expensive than the latter. As the adequate dosage of IVMP has not been fully elucidated, we have tried to determine it. METHODS: The subjects were 35 childhood patients below 15 years of age, who were diagnosed with ITP for the first time and whose platelet count was less than 20,000/mm(3) at diagnosis. We divided them into three groups : Group A included 8 cases with IVMP dosage of 5mg/kg/day, Group B included 9 patients with IVMP dosage of 10mg/kg/day, and group C included 18 patients with IVMP dosage of 20mg/kg/day. We checked the platelet count every day after IVMP administration daily for 5 days and also observed for side effects if any. RESULTS: After IVMP administration, we obseved increasing tendency of platelets in all three groups, of which group C was more rapid and higher in increasing platelets than the other groups(p20,000/mm(3) were 6(75%) in group A, 7(78%) in group B, and 18(100%) in group C. Cases with platelets >50,000/mm(3) were 5(63%), 6(67%), 17(94%) in groups A, B, C, respectively, and cases with platelets> 100,000/mm(3) were 3(38%), 5(56%), 14(78%), in group A, B, C, respectively. And there were no remarkable side effects except a case of transient hypertensive headache in group C. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that the effectiveness of IVMP therapy for increasing platelets was more rapid and higher in group C than in group A or B, and side effect was minimal.