• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.8-13
• /
• 2019

Objectives Disrupted integrities of the fornix and stria terminalis have been suggested in schizophrenia. However, very few studies have focused on the fornix and stria terminalis comparing first-episode schizophrenia (FESZ), chronic schizophrenia (CS), and healthy controls (HCs) with the application of diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) technique. The objective of this study is to compare the connectivity of the fornix and stria terminalis among FESZ, CS, and HCs. Methods We included the 44 FESZ patients, 39 CS patients and 20 HCs in this study. Voxel-wise statistical analysis of the fractional anisotropy (FA) data was performed using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics to analyze the connectivity of fornix and stria terminalis. In addition, the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were used to evaluate clinical symptom severities. Results There were no significant differences between the FESZ, CS, and HCs in age, sex, education years. The SAPS and SANS scores of the schizophrenia groups showed no significant differences. FA values of the right fornix cres/stria terminalis in the CS group were significantly lower than those in FESZ and HCs. There were no significant differences of FA values of the right fornix cres/stria terminalis between the FESZ and the HCs. Pearson correlation analyses revealed that significant correlation between FA values of the right fornix cres/stria terminalies of the the FESZ group and positive, negative symptom scales, and FA values of the right fornix cres/stria terminalis of the CS group and negative symptom scales. Conclusions This study shows that FA values of the fornix and stria terminalis in the CS were lower than in the FESZ and the HCs. These results suggest that the fornix and stria terminalis can play a role in pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Thus current study can broaden our understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

• Asian Spine Journal
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.1085-1091
• /
• 2018

Study Design: Case-control. Purpose: To determine optimal cut-off value for body mass index (BMI) in predicting surgical success in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS). Overview of Literature: BMI is an essential variable in the assessment of patients with LSCS. Methods: We conducted a prospective study with obese and non-obese LSCS surgical patients and analyzed data on age, sex, duration of symptoms, walking distance, morphologic grade of stenosis, BMI, postoperative complications, and functional disability. Obesity was defined as BMI of ${\geq}30kg/m^2$. Patients completed the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) questionnaire before surgery and 2 years after surgery. Surgical success was defined as ${\geq}30%$ improvement from the baseline ODI score. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to estimate the optimal cut-off values of BMI to predict surgical success. In addition, correlation was assessed between BMI and stenosis grade based on morphology as defined by Schizas and colleague in total, 189 patients were eligible to enter the study. Results: Mean age of patients was $61.5{\pm}9.6years$. Mean follow-up was $36{\pm}12months$. Most patients (88.4%) were classified with grades C (severe stenosis) and D (extreme stenosis). Post-surgical success was 85.7% at the 2-year follow-up. A weak correlation was observed between morphologic grade of stenosis and BMI. Rates of postoperative complications were similar between patients who were obese and those who were non-obese. Both cohorts had similar degree of improvement in the ODI at the 2-year followup. However, patients who were non-obese presented significantly higher surgical success than those who were obese. In ROC curve analysis, a cut-off value of ${\leq}29.1kg/m^2$ for BMI in patients with LSCS was suggestive of surgical success, with 81.1% sensitivity and 82.2% specificity (area under the curve, 0.857; 95% confidence interval, 0.788-0.927). Conclusion: This study showed that the BMI can be considered a parameter for predicting surgical success in patients with LSCS and can be useful in clinical practice.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.72-78
• /
• 2018

Purpose: Physicians' attitudes may have a strong influence on women's decision regarding prenatal screening options. The aim of this study is to assess the physicians' attitudes toward prenatal screening for fetal aneuploidy including non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) in South Korea. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires were distributed and collected at several obstetrics-gynecological conferences and meetings. The questionnaire included 31 multiple choice and 5 fill-in-the-blank questions. Seven questions requested physicians' demographic information, 17 questions requested information about the NIPT with cell-free fetal DNA, and 12 questions requested information about general prenatal screening practices. Results: Of the 203 obstetricians that completed the survey. In contrast with professional guidelines recommending the universal offering of aneuploidy screening, only 53.7% answered that prenatal aneuploidy testing (screening and/or invasive diagnostic testing) should be offered to all pregnant women. Physicians tended to have positive attitudes toward the clinical application of NIPT as both primary and secondary screening methods for patients at high-risk for fetal trisomy. However, for patients at average-risk for fetal trisomy, physicians tended to have positive attitudes only as a secondary screening method. Physicians with more knowledge about NIPT were found to tend to inform their patients that the detection rate of NIPT is higher. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate expert opinion on prenatal screening in South Korea. Education of physicians is essential to ensure responsible patient counseling, informed consent, and appropriate management after NIPT.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.165-175
• /
• 2019

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the emotional characteristics of the patients within one year after stroke using the Core Seven Emotions Inventory-Short Form. Methods: It analyzed the medical records of 39 stroke patients who had visited W University hospital and completed the Core Seven-Emotions Inventory-Short Form (CSEI-S), the K-MBI, the PWI-SF, and the HADS. Patients data were analyzed by descriptive analysis, frequency analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the nonparametric test of the CSEI according to the period of stroke onset in patients and Spearman's correlation analysis using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science, IBM, United States of America) Version 23.0. Results: First, in the case of depression, all subjects were in the danger group, although more than half of the joy, anger, thinking, sadness and fear were included in the normal group in the shortening of the key seven-point scale. Secondly, in measuring the social and psychological stress and hospital anxiety and depression, social and psychological stress were indicated to be a potential danger group, while anxiety and depression were shown to be a healthy group. Thirdly, the emotional characteristics were explored according to the sub-factor of the shortening of the key seven-figure emotional scale after being classified within two months, between two and six months and over six months depending on the duration of the outbreak. As a result, statistically significant, Joy was the highest score over six months and the lowest score between two and six months. On the other hand, the case of depression was depicted to be significantly lower at over six months, and was highest between two and six months. Finally, the correlations on each scale were statistically significant. Conclusions: This study provided that the CSEI-S can be used to simply to measure the emotions of patients according to the period of the onset of stroke in the clinical scene.

• Convergence Security Journal
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.121-132
• /
• 2017

This study is a narrative research study to understand the degree of awareness and practice of nursing college students' patients' health information protection and to grasp the relationship between them.. The subjects of this study were 122 nursing college students who experienced clinical practice in two nursing colleges in GwangJu city. Data collection was done from October 13 to 28, 2017. Using SPSS/WIN 21.0 Program, descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis were performed. As a result of the study, the degree of awareness and practicability of patient' health information protection were 4.44(SD=0.44) and 4.28(SD=0.62), respectively. There was a difference in the awareness of health information protection when they were educated about patients' health information protection at school (t=5.094, p<.001) and hospital (t=2.028, p=.045) in the case of having experience in patients' health information protection in hospitals(t=2.551, p=.012). There was a significant positive(+)correlation between patient's health information protection perception and practicing degree, and the degree of health information protection practitioner's communication domain (r=.420, p<.001). There was a significant positive correlation with the domain (r=.368, p<.001) and the referral domain (r=.304, p=.001). Based on these results, we sought to protect the personal information of patients and to provide necessary basic data to develop for standardized education program.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.20 no.7
• /
• pp.414-422
• /
• 2019

The purpose of this study was to explore the predictors of turnover intention among nurses working in general hospitals. The subjects were 181 nurses who worked in two general hospitals in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Data were collected from June to November 2018, and analyzed by descriptive statistics, Independent t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and Stepwise multiple regression analysis, using SPSS/WIN 21.0. The main findings of this were as follows. The mean scores for the nursing work environment, professional self-concept, job satisfaction and turnover intention were $2.43{\pm}0.38$, $2.60{\pm}0.25$, $2.59{\pm}0.29$ and $3.43{\pm}0.72$ points. Turnover intention is negatively correlated with the nursing work environment (r=-.43, p<.001) and job satisfaction (r=-.46, p<.001). Factors influencing turnover intention were job satisfaction(${\beta}=-.47$, p<.001), nursing work environment(${\beta}=.32$, p<.001), professional self-concept(${\beta}=.20$, p<.001), and total length of a clinical career(${\beta}=-.15$, p<.05) showing an explanatory power of 38%. Since various variables influence the turnover intention of nurses, it is necessary to improve the nursing environment in the medical field rather than the strategy to increase the number of simple nurses. In the university, education for establishing through introductory nursing specialty is needed.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
• /
• v.25 no.12
• /
• pp.235-242
• /
• 2020

This is descriptive research aimed at identifying the factors for nursing productivity in nurses at a tertiary hospital. The data were collected from a survey conducted in 257 nurses at a single hospital in Seoul from May to June 2020. The collected data were analyzed through t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analysis by using an SPSS 25.0 program. The total score was an average of 25.40±5.49 (range: 6-36) for gratitude disposition, 65.15±9.18 (range: 21-105) for job satisfaction, 87.64±12.05 (range: 23-115) for nursing performance, and 35.68±6.79 (range: 0-45) for nursing productivity. Nursing productivity was positively correlated with gratitude disposition (r=.219, p<.001), job satisfaction (r=.440, p<.001), and nursing performance (r=.494, p<.001). Nursing productivity was affected by gratitude disposition (β=.144), nursing performance (β=.394), and job satisfaction (β=.278). On the basis of these results, it is necessary to develop and apply education programs aimed at promoting work productivity for nursing manpower.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.29-62
• /
• 2021

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of an interactive singing-based synchronous videoconferencing program for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study was conducted in four stages: analysis of interactive singing tasks in the literature for children with ASD, examination of differences in perception of sounds transmitted via synchronous videoconferencing platform depending on the type of singing tasks and accompaniment, construction of singing-based synchronous videoconferencing program and determination of its validity, and implementation of the constructed program with three children with ASD and confirmation of its feasibility. The results showed that different types of singing tasks and accompaniment affected perception of sounds transmitted online, which highlights the importance of considering such effects when designing synchronous videoconferencing music therapy programs. Also, increases in program engagement and singing behaviors were observed for all three participants, and their caregivers reported high levels of satisfaction with the program. The findings support the applicability of this intervention as a tele-music alternative during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clinical implications and suggestions are discussed.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.245-251
• /
• 2021

This study was to investigate the effect of the new surface treatment method of zirconia on the shear bond strength with resin cement. The zirconia specimens were classified according to the surface treatment. CON: non-treatment, HF: 10 minutes exposure to 9% HF, ZS15: Apply 15% ZrO2 slurry, ZS30: Apply 30% ZrO2 slurry, ZS50: Apply 50% ZrO2 slurry. The resin cement was layered on the surface treated zirconia, and the shear bond strength between the zirconia and the resin cement was measured after thermo-cycling. The statistical methods for shear bond strength were Kruskal-Wallis test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Bonferroni correction(α=.05/10=.005). ZS15, ZS30, and ZS50 groups treated with zirconia slurry showed higher shear bond strength than CON and HF groups(p<.05/10=.005). Within the limits of this study, the surface treatment using zirconia slurry increased the shear bond strength with resin cement. The new surface treatment method complements and improves the limitations of the adhesion of zirconia, so that various clinical applications of zirconia can be expected.

• Journal of Music and Human Behavior
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.29-56
• /
• 2020

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate an imagery-focused music listening program for improving emotion regulation among infertile women. For the program development in this study, the literature on emotional issues and coping strategy of infertile women was analyzed to establish theoretical foundation; and the literature on Supportive Music and Imagery (SMI) was analyzed to identify intervention components. Based on the established theoretical framework, the program was developed and finalized after evaluation of validity by four SMI professionals. The developed program was found to systematically target changes in emotions in the step-wise process of discovery, reinforcement, and affirmation of positive emotional resources. The list of music for future use was also identified and presented after systematic analysis of musical features in relation to valence and arousal of emotions. The imagery-focused music listening program was an initial approach to infertile women with SMI, which indicates the possibility of extended application for broadened clinical population.