• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.822-835
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• 1997

연구배경 : 기관지천식의 병태생리중 IgE의 합성 및 조절에 IL-4가 중요한 역할을 하며, IFN-$\gamma$는 이러한 IL-4의 작용을 길항하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이를 근거로 최근에 IFN-$\gamma$를 아토피 피부염등 IgE가 높은 알레르기성 질환의 치료에 이용하고자 하는 임상적 시도가 있는데, 아직 기관지천식에 대한 임상적 시도는 별로 보고되어 있지 않다. 그러나 IFN-$\gamma$는 in vitro에서 말초혈액 다형핵구나 단핵세포에 의한 독성산화물 생성을 증가시킨다는 보고도 있어, 실제 임상에서 IFN-$\gamma$ 치료의 임상적 효과는 확실하지 않다. 이에 저자들 IL-4 매개성 IgE 생성에 대한 IFN-$\gamma$의 길항작용에 기초하여, IgE가 정상범위보다 높은 기관지천식 환지들에서 in vitro 에서와 같이 in vivo 에서도 IFN-$\gamma$가 IgE 생성을 억제하는지 여부와, 그 결과로 임상적 치료효과를 나타내는지에 대해 관찰하는 한편, 다형핵구의 독성산화물 생성능에 미치는 영향은 in vitro의 경우와 어떻게 다른지에 대해서 관찰하였다. 대상 및 방법 : IgE가 200IU/ml 이상이고 정규적인 부신피질호르몬 치료에 반응을 보이지 않는 기관지천식 환자 50명과 정상인 17명을 대상으로, 혈중 CD23+ B-상층액 발현도, sCD23 농도, T-상층액의 IL-4 activity, 다형핵구에 의한 과산화 음이온 생성능등을 측정한 후, 환자군과 정상군간의 차이를 비교하고, 환자군에 대해서는 상기 검사외에 혈중 IgE 농도 및 histamine $PC_{20}$등을 함께 측정하여 IFN-$\gamma$ 치료전후의 변화를 관찰하였다. IFN-$\gamma$ 치료는 체중당 30,000IU를 매일 4주간 피하주사하였다. 결 과 : 다형핵구의 ${O_2}^-$ 생성능 환자군의 다형핵구는 정상군의 다형핵구에 비해 ${O_2}^-$생성능이 높았다(P<0.05). IFN-$\gamma$ 치료후 추적이 가능했던 환자들에서는 IFN-$\gamma$ 치료후에 다형핵구의 ${O_2}^-$ 생성능이 현저하게 감소하였다(P<0.05). 다형핵구 배양시간에 따라 자연적인 ${O_2}^-$ 생성능 및 PMA 혹은 fMLP 자극에 의한 ${O_2}^-$ 생성능을 관찰하였을 때에도, 배양시간 및 자극제의 종류와 무관하게 IFN-$\gamma$ 치료후가 치료전에 비해 ${O_2}^-$ 생성능이 감소하는 경향을 보였다. IFN-$\gamma$ 치료전의 환자군의 말초혈액내 CD23+ B-상층액의 발현도는 정상군에 비해 현저히 높았으나(P<0.05), 치료후 추적검사가 가능하였던 15명의 환자들에서 치료전후에 의미있는 변화를 나타내지는 않았다. IFN-$\gamma$ 치료전의 환자군의 혈청내 sCD23 농도는 정상군에 비해 다소 높은 경향을 보였으며, 이중 치료 후 추적검사가 가능하였던 17명의 환자들중 11명(64.7%)에서 치료후에 혈청 sCD23 농도가 감소되었다. T-상층액의 IL-4 activity는 정상군에 비해 환자군에서 다소 높은 경향을 보였는데, IFN-$\gamma$ 치료후에는 큰 변화를 보이지 않았다. IFN-$\gamma$ 치료후 혈청 IgE 농도의 추적검사가 시행되었던 환자 15명 중 9명(60%)에서 치료후 혈청 IgE 농도가 유의하게 감소되었다(P<0.05). IFN-$\gamma$ 치료에 따른 기관지과민반웅의 변화는 모두 12명의 환자에서 관찰되었는데, 이중 10명(83.3%)에서 IFN-$\gamma$ 치료후 histamine $PC_{20}$가 유의하게 호전되는 소견을 보여주었다(P<0.05). 결 론 : 이상의 연구결과 IFN-$\gamma$는 IgE가 높은 기관지천식 환자의 치료에 유용할 것으로 추측되며, in vivo에서의 IgE 합성 및 조절기전과 이에 대한 IFN-$\gamma$의 역할을 보다 명확하게 규명하기 위한 노력이 필요할 것으로 생각된다.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.69-98
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• 2009

We investigated what factors motivate gamers to participate in a guild and why they continue to be engaged as members of the guild. We find that, based on the result of focus group interviews with MMORPG gamers, social support and self-esteem factors play important roles. Considering both prior research and the focus group interviews we have conducted, we define social support and character control as independent variables. Character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem are proposed as mediating variables while guild flow and game loyalty as dependent variables. Accordingly, we develop the research model and hypotheses, and verify them empirically. Based on our experiences of playing the WoW game, we proposed a research model and conducted focus-group interviews (FGIs). FGIs involve formulating a hypothesis and then collecting some relevant data. FGIs were conducted face-to-face with students of C University in Korea. We formulated structured interview schedules, and the questions were based on our research variables and personal experiences. The questions for the interviews encompassed the following areas: (a) the demographic characteristics of the focus group; (b) the number of years for which respondents had played online games; (c) the motive for starting a game; (d) the number of game-characters assumed by each gamer; (e) the type of game played; and (f) other issues such as the reasons for involvement in the play, the willingness to reuse the game in case new versions were released, etc. On average, it took two hours to interview each of three groups. A primary set of FGIs was conducted with three groups on the premise that there would be some differences caused by character race (Horde vs. Alliance) or by playable server (Normal vs. Combat). With respect to the manner of playing, we found that guild members shared information, felt a sense of belonging, and played computer games for quite a long time through the guild; however, they did not undergo these experiences when playing alone. Gamers who belonged to a specific guild helped other players without expecting compensation for that, freely shared information about the game, gave away items for free, and more generous with other members who made mistakes. The guild members were aware of the existence other members and experienced a sense of belonging through interactions with, and evaluations from, other players. It was clear that social support was shown within the guild and that it played an important role as a major research variable. Based on the results of the first FGIs, a second set of in-depth FGIs was carried out with a focus on the psychology of the individual within the guild and the social community of the guild. The second set of FGIs also focused on the guild's offline meetings. Gamers, over all, recognize the necessity of joining a community, not only off-line but also online world of the guild. They admit that the guild is important for them to easily and conveniently enjoy playing online computer games. The active behavior and positive attitudes of existing guild members can motivate new members of the guild to adapt themselves to the guild environment. They then adopt the same behaviors and attitudes of established guild members. In this manner, the new members of the guild strengthen the bonds with other gamers while feeling a sense of belonging, and developing social identity, thereby. It was discovered that the interaction among guild members and the social support encouraged new gamers to quickly develop a sense of social identity and increase their self-esteem. The guild seemed to play the role of socializing gamers. Sometimes, even in the real world, the guild members helped one another; therefore, the features of the guild also spilled over to the offline environment. We intend to use self-esteem, which was found through the second set of FGIs, as an important research variable. To collect data, an online survey was designed with a questionnaire to be completed by WoW gamers, who belong to a guild. The survey was registered on the best three domestic game-sites: 'WoW playforum,' 'WoW gamemeca,' and 'Wow invent.' The selected items to be measured in the questionnaire were decided based on prior research and data from FGIs. To verify the content of the questionnaire, we carried out a pilot test with the same participants to point out ambiguous questions as a way to ensure maximum accuracy of the survey result. A total of 244 responses were analyzed from the 250 completed questionnaires. The SEM analysis was used to test goodness-of-fit of the model. As a result, we found important results as follows: First, according to the statistics, social support had statistically significant impacts on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Second, character control had significant effects on character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity shows its clear impact on self-esteem and game loyalty. Fourth, guild identity affected self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Fifth, self-esteem had a positive influence on the guild flow. These days, the number of virtual community is rising along with its significance largely because of the nature of the online games. Accordingly, this study is designed to clarify the psychological relationship between gamers within the guild that has been generally established by gamers to play online games together. This study focuses on the relationships in which social support influences guild flow or game loyalty through character control, character identity, guild identity, and self-esteem, which are present within a guild in the MMORPG game environment. The study results are as follows. First, the effects of social support on character control, character identity, guild identity and self-esteem are proven to be statistically significant. It was found that character control improves character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Among the seven variables, social support, which is derived from FGIs, plays an important role in this study. With the active support of other guild members, gamers can improve their ability to develop good characters and to control them. Second, character identity has a positive effect on self-esteem and game loyalty, while guild identity has a significant effect on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Self-esteem affects guild flow. It was found that the higher the character and guild identities become, the greater the self-esteem is established. Contrary to the findings of prior research, our study results indicate that the relationship between character identity and guild flow is not significant. Rather, it was found that character identity directly affects game players' loyalty. Even though the character identity had no direct effect on increasing guild flow, it has indirectly affected guild flow through self-esteem. The significant relationship between self-esteem and guild flow indicates that gamers achieve flow, i.e., a feeling of pleasure and excitement through social support. Several important implications of this study should be noted. First, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to conduct this study. Through FGIs, it was observed that both social support and self-esteem are important variables. Second, because guilds had been rarely studied, this research is expected to play an important role in the online community. Third, according to the result, six hypotheses (H1, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H11) setup based on FGIs, were statistically significant; thus, we can suggest the corresponding relationships among the variables as a guideline for follow-up research. Our research is significant as it has following implications: first, the social support of the guild members is important when establishing character control, character identity, guildidentity and self-esteem. It is also a major variable that affects guild flow and game loyalty. Second, character control when improved by social support shows notable influence on the development of character identity, guild identity and self-esteem. Third, character identity and guild identity are major factors to help establish gamers' own self-esteem. Fourth, character identity affects guild flow through self-esteem and game loyalty. The gamers usually express themselves through characters; the higher character identity is, the more loyalty a gamer has. Fifth, guild identity, established within the guild, has clear effects on self-esteem, guild flow and game loyalty. Sixth, qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to conduct this study. Based on the results of focus group interviews and SEM analysis, we find that the social support by guild members and psychological factors are significant in strengthening the flow of guild and loyalty to the game. As such, game developers should provide some extra functions for guild community, through which gamers can play online games in collaboration with one another. Also, we suggest that positive self-esteem which is built up through social support can help gamers achieve higher level of flow and satisfaction, which will consequently contribute to minimizing the possibility for the players to develop negative attitude toward the guild they belong to.