• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.225-234
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• 2006

Purpose: This study was done to investigate the effect of self-foot reflexology on peripheral blood circulation, peripheral neuropathy and to determine the feasibility of self-foot reflexology as a nursing intervention. Method: This was nonequivalent control pretest-posttest study with 76 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (ages between 40-79) recruited from public health centers in Busan city. Intervention was a 6 week self-foot reflexology, and outcome variables were peripheral blood circulation and peripheral neuropathy(tactile response to monofilament, intensity of symptoms of peripheral neuropathy). ANCOVA was used to do the statistical analysis. A.05 significance level was set for evaluating the effects of self-foot reflexology. Results: The self-foot reflexology was relatively effective not only in reducing peripheral neuropathy(especially tingling sensation and pain) but also in improving ability to sense the 10-g force monofilament. Conclusion: Even though self-foot reflexology was not effective in improving peripheral circulation, it had good effect on improving peripheral neuropathy. Therefore self-foot reflexology can be used as a nursing intervention program for promoting foot care for patients with DM patients.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2015

Organic solvents are known toxic effects like vertigo, behavioral obstacle, distracting, and peripheral neuropathy in neuron areas. However, there have been few studies how neurotoxic solvents-exposed workers are affected by the cognitive load of preceding working memory tasks. Therefore, we used fMRI as to measure the neural correlates of working memory impairment in occupational workers who had from chronic exposure to organic solvent. Twenty-nine solvent-exposed workers were included in this study. Each participant concluded the verbal N-back tasks (1- and 2-back) during the fMRI acquisition. Within-group analyses showed fronto-parietal networks were active in each condition. Direct comparisons between 1- and 2-back showed higher activation during the 2-back than 1-back. We found that increased activation of these regions at lower task demand is associated with increased cost of implementing.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2001

Objectives: This study examined the effect of mood and personality characteristics on psychophysiological responses measured by a biofeedback system in a normal population. Methods: Fifty healthy volunteers without any history of medical or psychiatric illnesses participated in this study. We measured the Spielberger trait anxiety inventory, Beck depression inventory, and Eysenck personality questionnaires in these subjects. Using the J & J biofeedback system, we also measured skin temperature, electrodermal response, forearm and frontal electromyography (EMG)s in 3 experimental conditions of baseline, stress, and recovery phases. Results: Trait anxiety did not show any significant correlation with psychophysiological responses except stress response in forearm EMG levels(r=0.282, p<0.05). Depressed mood was negatively correlated with forearm EMG levels in baseline (r=-0.299, p<0.05) and recovery phases(r=-0.314, p<0.05). Subjects with relatively high levels of depressed mood showed different stress and recovery responses in frontal EMG levels compared with those with relatively low levels of depressed mood (F=4.26, p<0.05). Extroverted subjects showed higher levels of forearm EMG than introverted ones in stress phase. Conclusion: Mood and personality characteristics in healthy subjects are closely related with psychophysiological responses measured by a biofeedback system. We suggest that mood and personality characteristics should be considered as important variables in analyzing abnormal psychophysiological responses in some psychiatric patients.