• Journal of Korean Biological Nursing Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.306-315
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• 2023

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the rest-activity circadian rhythm (RAR) using data obtained from wearable actigraph devices in hospitalized older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and to investigate its relationship with salivary alpha amylase (sAA). Methods: This secondary data analysis used data from the Hospitalized Older Adults' Cognition and Physical Activity Study. Actigraph data for 3-4 days were analyzed for RAR. RAR indices such as interdaily stability (IS), intradaily variability (IV), activity level during the most active 10-hour period and during the most least active 5-hour period, and relative amplitude (RA) were calculated. Data on sAA collected in the morning and general characteristics, including body mass index (BMI), were analyzed. Results: Data from 92 hospitalized older adults with MCI were analyzed. The IS, IV, RA were 0.23, 0.73, 0.88, respectively. The average level of sAA was 77.02 U/mL, and a higher level of sAA was significantly associated with better IS and RA in the regression analysis, while age, BMI, and cognitive level were not. BMI showed positive correlations with IS and RA. Conclusion: RAR in the hospitalized older adults with MCI was attenuated, showing especially low IS, which implies they failed to maintain regular and repetitive 24-hour RAR. Increased sAA and BMI were associated with robust RAR. Nurses need to pay attention to maintain robust RAR in hospitalized older adults with MCI, and strategies should be developed to improve their RAR.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.294-304
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• 2021

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate objectively measured physical activity (PA) in institutionalized older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to elucidate the influence of autonomic nervous function, salivary cortisol, and PA on cognitive functions based on neurovisceral integration model. Methods: Overall cognitive function was evaluated using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and executive function was evaluated using semantic verbal fluency test and clock drawing test. Actigraph for PA, HRV and sAA for autonomous function, and the geriatric depression scale for depression were used. Saliva specimens were collected in the morning for sAA and cortisol. Results: Ninety-eight older adults from four regional geriatric hospitals participated in the study. They took 4,499 steps per day on average. They spent 753.93 minutes and 23.12 minutes on average in sedentary and moderate-to-vigorous activity, respectively. In the multiple regression analysis, lower salivary cortisol level (β = - .33, p = .041) and greater step counts (β = .37, p = .029) significantly improved MMSE score. Greater step count (β = .27, p = .016) also exerted a significant influence on verbal fluency, and greater sAA (β= .35, p = .026) was significantly associated with a better clock drawing test result. Conclusion: Salivary cortisol, sAA and physical activity were significantly associated with cognitive functions. To prevent older adults from developing dementia, strategies are needed to increase their overall PA amount by decreasing sedentary time and to decrease salivary cortisol for cognitive function, and to maintain their sympathetic nervous activity for executive function.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.57-67
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• 2007

In currently, stress diseases are increased that present several sign and symptoms. Under stress condition, there are dry mouth, burning mouth syndrome, oral mucosa diseases and halitosis more frequently. Changing of salivary proportion is checked in almost patients with changing of function and structure in salivary gland. This study purpose are what effect stress does on salivary gland, and a-amylase on salivary gland. This study was resulted that 1. Under restraint stress, acinar cells are vacuolization and changing of intercellular spaces are separated, and peripheral tissues of duct are changed 2. Acinar cells were shrunk after 3 hours under restraint stress, intercellular space was separated after 6hours, peripheral tissues of duct started to change after 72 hours, and acinar cells and peripheral tissues of duct were all severely changed after 168hours. 3. In immunohistochemical study, amylase reaction was showed partially and irregularly after 3 hours, was getting little milder after 6 hours. And amylase reaction was gradually increased from the time of 12 hours after experiment up to the time of 48 hours after experiment. But after 168 hours, amylase appearance was diminished. According this result, emotional stress can change of salivary gland structure, and amylase secretion, the important digestive enzyme from salivary gland is changed and it is supposed to make digestive disorder and to make halitosis efficiency. So, we need to study about secretion of amylase.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.82-87
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• 2016

As contemporary society has become more complicated, specialized, and segmented, people are experiencing more diverse types of stress. In particular, while several factors associated with job stress have been examined among nurses, who belong to a professional group, the existing research has made no quantitative assessments of stress that reflect temporal differences in individuals. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the effects of job stress on alpha-amylase with regard to the working hours of nurses, to assess the variations in jobs stress over time, and provide basic data to improve the quality of nursing services. Ninety nurses working in three shifts in general, emergency, and intensive care wards of a university hospital in D City participated in this study. Salivary alpha-amylase (SAA) was extracted and analyzed at two-hour intervals from 07:00 to 15:00 from nurses on the day shift and from 23:00 to 07:00 from those working the night shift. The SAA level was highest between 23:00 and 01:00 for nurses in general wards ($mean{\pm}S.D.\;39.00{\pm}14.88$) and between 11:00 and 13:00 for those in both intensive care units and emergency wards ($mean{\pm}S.D.\;67.50{\pm}62.93$ and $mean{\pm}S.D.\;39.67{\pm}35.96$, respectively). The characteristic variation in SAA was significant between 23:00 and 01:00 (p < 0.01) and for those in their fifties or older (p < 0.01). The activation ratio of alpha-amylase, a stress reactant, showed an increase when the sympathetic nervous system was activated by mental stress; in addition, job stress was manifested with the effect of awakening at different time segments and at different ages among the nurses. With the aim of raising the level of service based on the nurses maintaining their mental health, it is necessary to focus sharply on the time segment for critical control and to conduct repetitive studies to determine the divisions of eustress critical values as well as to expand the population.