• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.174-184
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• 2019

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the current status of end-of-life (EoL) care education of the undergraduate nursing curriculum and senior students' EoL care experience and competency. Methods: A survey was conducted with 41 nursing schools and 622 senior nursing students on June 2018. The questionnaire consisted of 38 items on teaching regarding EoL care and 17 items on EoL care competencies based on the suggestions made by the American Nurses Association. Results: Only 20% among 41 nursing schools opened an EoL care course as an elective, and the course was taken by 5.1% students. Of 622 students, 70.7% witnessed death of patients during their clinical training, but 74.8% received no or little education on EoL care from their clinical training instructors. Two of 38 education contents on EoL care were taught in class for over 80% of the students. All students scored below 3 points (2.31±0.66) for all 17 competencies, which means that they cannot perform EoL care. Conclusion: This study showed that there was a serious deficiency in undergraduate nursing education on EoL care. Accordingly, most nursing students who would graduate soon considered themselves incapable of performing EoL care. Nurses experience death and dying as a part of their practice and should be prepared to provide adequate EoL care. Therefore, it is urgent to improve EoL care training in the undergraduate nursing education.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.83-91
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• 2001

Purpose: This study was to observe whether the apoptotic function of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) is induced in human gastric epithelial dysplasia and gastric adenocarcinoma according to the role of FasL expression. Materials and Methods: A total of 56 gastric epithelial dysplasia and gastric adenocarcinoma patients were enrolled in this study: 9 cases of gastric epithelial dysplasia, 18 cases of early gastric carcinomas (EGC) and 29 cases of advanced gastric carcinomas (AGC). Immunohistochemical staining was performed for FasL and CD45, and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) method was used to detect cell death in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Results: 1) Positive reactions of FasL to neoplastic cells were $88.9\%$ (8/9) in gastric epithelial dysplasia, $83.3\%$ (15/18) in EGC, and $75.9\%$ (22/29) in AGC. 2) Expression of TIL was decreased in the FasL positive region and was increased in the FasL negative region, and significant expression of TIL was observed in the AGC group (P=0.001). 3) Expression of apoptotic TIL was very similar to the FasL expression, and $100\%$ expression was observed in gastric epithelial dysplasia group. 4) Expression of apoptotic TIL was increased in the FasL positive region and decreased in the FasL negative region, and significant apoptotic expression was observed in the gastric epithelial dysplasia and EGC groups (P=0.0420, P=0.0263, respectively). Conclusion: These results suggest that FasL is a prevalent mediator of immune privilege in epithelial dysplasia and cancer of the stomach.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1778-1783
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• 2011

Hematopoietic cytokines regulate production of blood cells by stimulating proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow cells. Among these hematopoietic cytokines, called hematopoitic growth factors, glranulocyte-colony stimulating Factor (G-CSF), which regulates growth of neutrophils, is one of important therapeutic factors because cancer patients suffer with neutropenia which is severe reduction of neutrophils after chemotherapy. Two groups of recombinant G-CSF have approved and used for therapeutic purposes and many researches are still on-going to produce recombinant G-CSF by different techniques. We engineered human G-CSF with Bombyx specific endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal sequence, therefore, secretion of human G-CSF protein was improved in Bombyx mori-origined cell line, Bm5. The Bombyx ER signal sequence and human G-CSF matured protein region chimera was further remodeled at the N-terminus of matured G-CSF protein to understand roles of N-terminus on outer cellular secretion and/or production. Three different mutants were generated deleting three amino acids in non alpha-helical region in N-terminus in order to scan important amino acids for G-CSF secretion. One of 3 different N-terminal deletion mutants showed dramatically reduction of secreted amount of G-CSF indicating its important role on secretion. The data suggest that remodeling in non alpha-helical region of N-terminus is also important for recombinant G-CSF production.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.212-219
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• 2016

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive type of primary brain tumor in humans. Despite intensive treatment, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, most patients die of the disease. Although the anti-cancer activity of resveratrol has been demonstrated in various cancer cell types, its underlying mechanism in glioma cells is not fully elucidated. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of resveratrol on cell viability and to determine the molecular mechanism in A172 human glioma cells. Resveratrol caused the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and resveratrol-induced cell death was prevented by antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine and catalase), suggesting that an oxidative mechanism is responsible for resveratrol-induced cell death. Resveratrol-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38 kinase, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and resveratrol-induced cell death were prevented by inhibitors of these kinases. Resveratrol-induced activation of caspase-3 and cell death were prevented by the caspase inhibitors. ERK activation and caspase-3 activation induced by resveratrol was blocked by N-acetylcysteine. Taken together, these results suggest that resveratrol causes a caspase-dependent cell death via activation of ERK, p38, and JNK, mediated by ROS generation, in human glioma cells.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine understanding of the meaning of well-dying and types of such views held by medical practitioners and nursing students. Methods: The Q-methodology was used to analyze the subjectivity of each item. The P-sample was made up of 22 medical practitioners or nursing students. The P-sample was instructed to rate 33 statements using a 7-point scale to obtain forced normal distribution. They were asked to make extra comments on the statements that were placed on both ends of the distribution curve. The PC-QUANL Program was used for the factor analysis of the collected data. Results: The participants had three types of meaning of well-dying. Total variance explained by these types was 57.97%" where type 1 was "reality-oriented", type 2 "relationship-oriented" and type 3 "obeying-the-nature". Conclusion: The participants' subjective views on well-dying influences their medical practice on patients who are facing death. Therefore, medical practitioners should have profound insights concerning life and death. To that end, a training program is needed to help medical practitioners develop a proper view on well-dying by subjectivity type.

• Journal of the Korean Child Neurology Society
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.284-287
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• 2018

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutation of one of two genes, TSC1 (encoding hamartin, 9q34) and TSC2 (encoding tuberin, 16p13). It invades the central nervous system and various parts of the body, causing various symptoms. Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated disease that has not been clearly elucidated. It is thought to be caused by an excessive immune response of the body to bacteria that normally exist in the digestive tract with genetic factors. No cases have been reported in which both of the above-mentioned diseases occurred simultaneously. We report a case of CD in a patient with TSC. A 12-year-old boy was brought to our hospital because of abdominal pain. Skin lesions were observed in the TSC. Fundus examination revealed a hamartoma in the right retina. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a subendothelial giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA). On the basis of these findings, he was diagnosed as having TSC. Blood test results showed increased levels of inflammatory markers. On abdominal ultrasonography, his colon walls were observed to be thickened with increased vascularity of the proximal ascending colon, ileocecal valve, and terminal ileum. Colonoscopy revealed discontinuous ulcerations and inflammations of the ileum, IC valve, and cecum, similar to those found in CD. Everolimus was administered orally for the SEGA but was discontinued frequently owing to the exacerbation of CD. The possibility of CD should be kept in mind in patients with TSC considering to undergo treatment for SEGA.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.58 no.5
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• pp.349-356
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• 2014

With the advent of highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART), the perceptions of HIV therapy have changed from treating acute and terminal diseases to managing complex chronic diseases. Due to needs for specialists with professional knowledge on anti-retroviral therapies, pharmacists have been recognized as established and integral members in HIV multi-disciplinary care teams. Nevertheless, the roles of Korean pharmacists for HIV/AIDS therapy were highly limited. According to the transition of '2+4'-year pharmacy school curricula in Korea, it is necessary for pharmacy students to possess improved knowledge about and proper attitudes toward HIV/AIDS as future pharmacists. However, there have been little studies regarding the assessment of HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes, and risk perceptions of pharmacy students in Korea. Thus, this study was to examine Korean pharmacy students' knowledge levels, attitudes, and risk perceptions about HIV/AIDS and compare them according to pharmacy educational systems. The self-reported questionnaire was utilized to collect data. Total 238 students responded to the survey questionnaires. Most pharmacy students who participated in this study knew that the main transmission routes of HIV were unprotected sex, unscreened blood, occupational exposure, and intravenous drug use. However, they did not properly know post exposure prophylaxis for HIV. The pharmacy students under '2+4'-year curricula were more competent with treatment, care, counseling for HIV patients than those under 4-year curricula. Most pharmacy students thought that all healthcare students and professionals should receive mandatory HIV testings. The results from this study may contribute to developing new educational programs about HIV/AIDS. Additionally, further studies regarding the changes of Korean pharmacy students' attitudes and risk perceptions will need to be performed after they participate in these kinds of the programs.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.87-99
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the difficulties with end-of-life care (EOLC) experienced by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses and to investigate their educational needs for EOLC. Methods: Mixed methods were used to survey ICU nurses at a university hospital. Quantitative data (N=106) were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using an independent samples t-test, ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U test and $Scheff{\acute{e}}$ test. Qualitative data (N=19) were collected through focus group interviews and analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Results: The mean score on the difficulty of EOLC was 3.41 out of 5. The education needs derived from the qualitative analysis was categorized into four themes: 1) guidelines on professional EOLC, 2) spiritual care, 3) a program to take care of feelings of patients, families and nurses, and 4) activities to think about death. Conclusion: This study confirmed that ICU nurses were experiencing an extreme difficulty in providing EOLC. In addition, a qualitative analysis confirmed that they needed an EOL nursing program. To mitigate the difficulties experienced by nurses involved in EOLC, there is an urgent need to develop an education program for EOLC tailored to nurses' needs.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.256-264
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• 2022

Ischemic stroke is caused by an occlusion by a thrombus or embolus in a cerebral artery, preventing oxygenated blood from reaching the brain and causing the necrosis of nerve cells. This paper summarizes the serum candidate markers associated with cardiovascular disease and atrial fibrillation (AF) disease that enable an early diagnosis of ischemic stroke studied thus far and compares the odds ratio (OR) of each marker. This study examined the effect size of these serum candidate markers using meta-analysis techniques. The academic database search screening for articles containing the keywords "cardiovascular disease," "atrial fibrillation," "ischemic stroke," and "serum marker" was limited to results for patients with ischemic stroke. The most derived markers in this study were N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the rest being investigated individually. In conclusion, NT-pro-BNP appears to be very useful for the early diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Primarily, it is a marker of AF, and more AF markers will be uncovered and studied in the future.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.619-625
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• 2023

In this paper, the remote care of medical beds with multiple body pressure sensors is described. Falling is one of the factors that seriously threaten the safety of patients and harm their health. In this study, a new bed was developed to overcome this. The bed system consists of a keyboard that can operate, a keyboard controller that manages the movement of the keyboard, a sensor that measures body pressure, a sensor controller that transmits and receives sensor values, a main controller that checks it and operates automatically or manually according to the algorithm, and a server that oversees all these information. The bed system checks the patient's location through a sensor and wirelessly alerts the server through the main controller when the patient determines that there is a risk of falling, so that the nurse or nurse can recognize the patient's dangerous condition. The server may receive state data transmitted from the wired/wireless terminal to monitor whether the bed system is operating normally. The controller of the keyboard operates a keyboard-type mechanism and automatically controls the prevention of bedsores connected by body pressure sensors to physically separate the area to which the patient's pressure is applied to prevent bedsores. The main controller checks the presence of the patient's bed and transmits it to the server. In conclusion, the proposed system can smart monitor the user's state and perform remote care.