• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2013

Objectives: Mental health has been shown to be linked with certain underlying physiological mechanisms. The objective of this cross sectional study was to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms and brachial artery reactivity (BAR) in an understudied population: police officers. Methods: Participants were 351 police officers who were clinically examined in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Police Stress (BCOPS) study. BAR was performed using standard B-Mode ultrasound procedures. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Mean values of the difference between the baseline and maximum diameters of the brachial artery were determined across three categories of CES-D score using the analysis of variance and the analysis of covariance. p-values for linear trends were obtained from linear regression models. Results: The mean age (${\pm}$ standard deviation) of all officers was $40.9{\pm}7.2$ years. Women had a slightly higher mean CES-D score than men ($8.9{\pm}8.9$ vs. $7.4{\pm}6.4$) and a slightly higher percentage increase of BAR than men (6.90 vs. 5.26%). Smoking status significantly modified the associations between depressive symptoms and BAR. Among current smokers, mean absolute values of BAR significantly decreased as depressive symptoms increased after adjustment for age, gender, race/ethnicity, hypertension, and diabetes; the multivariate-adjusted p-values were 0.033 (absolute) and 0.040 (%). Associations between depressive symptoms and BAR were not statistically significant among former smokers or never smokers. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms were inversely associated with BAR among police officers who were current smokers and together may be considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among police officers. Further prospective research is warranted.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2020

Objectives : Clozapine has been known to increase the possibility of developing cardio/cerebrovascular diseases, and the platelet activation has been deemed to be related to the occurrence of them. In author's previous study, we observed the increase of platelet activity with short-term clozapine administration. This study was conducted, as a follow-up study, to investigate the effect of clozapine on the platelet activity when administered continuously for long-term period of time of 1 year. Methods : The medical records of the patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were treated with clozapine for 1 year were retrospectively reviewed. The degree of platelet activation was assessed by measuring the mean platelet component. Results : Total of 24 patients were enrolled. 9 of them (37.5%) were male and 15 of them (62.5%) were female. In the Wilcoxon sign-ranks test, no significant change was observed between the mean platelet factor values at the beginning and at the end of one year. Conclusions : No significant changes of mean platelet activity were observed after continued administration of clozapine for 1 year. Considering the author's previous findings that observed a prominent decrease of mean platelet component after short-term clozapine administration, the result of this study suggests the possibility that the activity of the platelet may change depending on the duration of the clozapine administration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.473-478
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• 2015

Abdominal obesity is one of the most influential index to predict of insulin resistance syndrome/metabolic syndrome in social demographic characteristics. It is matter of fact that radiation dose are increasing with development of medical treatment and device. In this study, we estimated distortion between reference image and entrance surface dose when take a chest radiography forward chest phantom assumed abdominal obesity. When angle of chest phantom incline $5^{\circ}$ forward, thoracic transverse and longitudinal diameter increase 1.22% and 0.44% each. Also cardiac transverse diameter increase 1.01% and cardio-throracic ratio (CTR) decrease 0.27% in the same situation of incline to $5^{\circ}$ forward. Thoracic transverse diameter shows the largest increase, and CTR was decreased. But entrance surface dose to phantom increase significantly 6.12% when angle of chest phantom incline $5^{\circ}$ forward. In conclusion, we have to pay attention to accurate positioning, to prevent a distortion of image through incline, and make patients not to expose to additional radiation.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.30-38
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• 2019

Background: Police officers' stress perception, frequency of stressful events (stressors), and police work characteristics may contribute to poor sleep quality through different mechanisms. Methods: We investigated associations of stress severity (measured by stress rating score) and frequency of stressors with sleep quality and examined the influence of police work characteristics including workload, police rank, prior military experience, and shift work on the associations. Participants were 356 police officers (256 men and 100 women) enrolled in the Buffalo Cardio-Metabolic Occupational Police Stress Study from 2004 to 2009. A mean stress rating score and mean frequency of stressors occurring in the past month were computed for each participant from the Spielberger Police Stress Survey data. Sleep quality was assessed using the global score derived from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index survey. Linear associations of the stress rating score and frequency of stressors with sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index global score) were tested. Age, sex, race/ethnicity, and smoking status were selected as potential confounders. Results: The stress rating score was positively and independently associated with poor sleep quality (${\beta}=0.17$, p = 0.002). Only workload significantly modified this association (${\beta}=0.23$, p = 0.001 for high workload group; p-interaction = 0.109). The frequency of stressors was positively and independently associated with poor sleep quality (${\beta}=0.13$, p = 0.025). Only police rank significantly modified the association (${\beta}=0.007$, p = 0.004 for detectives/other executives; p-interaction = 0.076). Conclusion: Both police officers' perception of stress severity and the frequency of stressors are associated with poor sleep quality. Stress coping or sleep promotion regimens may be more beneficial among police officers reporting high workloads.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.504-510
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• 2004

Background: Vasodilatory shock after cardiac surgery may result from the vasopressin deficiency following cardio-pulmonary bypass and sepsis, which did not respond to usual intravenous inotropes. In contrast to the adult patients, the effectiveness of vasopressin for vasodilatory shock in children has not been known well and so we reviewed our experience of vasopressin therapy in the small babies with a cardiac disease. Material and Method: Between February and August 2003, intravenous vasopressin was administrated in 6 patients for vasodilatory shock despite being supported on intravenous inotropes after cardiac surgery. Median age at operation was 25 days old (ranges; 2∼41 days) and median body weight was 2,870 grams (ranges; 900∼3,530 grams). Preoperative diag-noses were complete transposition of the great arteries in 2 patients, hypoplastic left heart syndrome in 1, Fallot type double-outlet right ventricle in 1, aortic coarctation with severe atrioventricular valve regurgitation in 1, and total anomalous pulmonary venous return in 1. Total repair and palliative repair were undertaken in each 3 patient. Result: Most patients showed vasodilatory shock not responding to the inotropes and required the vasopressin therapy within 24 hours after cardiac surgery and its readministration for septic shock. The dosing range for vasopressin was 0.0002∼0.008 unit/kg/minute with a median total time of its administration of 59 hours (ranges; 26∼140 hours). Systolic blood pressure before, 1 hour, and 6 hours after its administration were 42.7$\pm$7.4 mmHg, 53.7$\pm$11.4 mmHg, and 56.3$\pm$13.4 mmHg, respectively, which shows a significant increase in systolic blood pressure (systolic pressure 1hour and 6 hours after the administration compared to before the administration; p=0.042 in all). Inotropic indexes before, 6 hour, and 12 hours after its administration were 32.3$\pm$7.2, 21.0$\pm$8.4, and 21.2$\pm$8.9, respectively, which reveals a significant decrease in inotropic index (inotropic indexes 6 hour and 12 hours after the administration compared to before the administration; p=0.027 in all). Significant metabolic acidosis and decreased urine output related to systemic hypoperfusion were not found after vasopressin admin- istration. Conclusion: In young children suffering from vasodilatory shock not responding to common inotropes despite normal ventricular contractility, intravenous vasopressin reveals to be an effective vasoconstrictor to increase systolic blood pressure and to mitigate the complications related to higher doses of inotropes.