• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.257-270
• /
• 1996

Studies on menstruation have focused only on menstruation itself and menstrual disorders. The menstruating girls or women have been neglected. So, the purpose of this study was to understand menstrual experience of adolescent girls in their perspective and build a theory on it, The specific purpose of this study were to find initial reaction of the girls, their strategies to adapt to menstruation. consequences of their efforts, influencing factor, and patterns of experience. The subjects of this study were eleven adolescent girls who experienced menarche three months to twenty-six months before the interview time. They were selected purposively. Their ages were in range of twelve and sixteen. One of them was a elementary school girl, three high school girls, and seven middle school girls. Two girls were handicapped because of cerebral palsy. All of them had some knowledge about menstrual physiology and hygiene during menstruation. Data were collected from September, 1994 to July, 1995. Data collection ＆ analysis were done according to the grounded theory methodology by Strauss ＆ Corbin(1990). Data collecting method was the long interviews and observation. Each interview took from 1 hour to 2 hours. Interview were tape-recorded and transcribed later by author. Data were analyzed immediately after interviews. Based on the results of previous interview, next interview were planned until gathered data reached the saturation point. Results were as follows. One hundred and six concepts were found. Those concepts were grouped into twenty eight categories and then fourteen higher categories. Twenty eight categories were as follows. “want to hide”, “bewildered”, “sense of burden”, “sense of heterogeneity”. “gladness”. “sense of superiority”, “negative empathy”, “positive empathy”, “limited hygenic control”, “sense of timing”, “lack of knowledge”, “lack of support”, “advance knowledge”, “informational support”, “emotional support”, “endurance”, “prayer”, “disclosing”, “avoidance”, “diversion”, “sense of powerlessness”, “discovery of sex identity”, “sense of maturation”, “sense of stability”, “acceptance of menstruation ”. fourteen higher categories were as follows. “negative feeling”, “posive feeling”, “exchange of feeling”, “limited hygenic control”, “sense of timing”, “accumulated experience”, “dysmenorrhea”, “level of knowledge”, “need for support”, “perceived support”, “sharing of feeling”, “self-control”, “passive acceptance”, “active acceptance”. The core category was “emotional shaking”, which consisted of “positive feeling” and “negative feeling”. “Emotional shaking”comes up to every adolescent girls experiencing menarche, independently of any contextual conditions, and its dimension has two directions : positive one and negative one. Its influencing factors were time of menarche, advance knowledge, support from the significant persons, expression and self-regulation. Even if they showed different process of adaptation to menstruation, general process of adaptation were as follows : 1. stage of emotional shaking 2. stage of acceptance 3. stage of internalization of the menstrual experience. Seven patterns existed on the process of adaptation to menstruation after menarche. Those are as follows. 1. If girls thought their menarche came too early and they had not much knowledge on menstruation, they had a kind of negative feeling. If they did not get enough support and dysmenorrhea superimposed, they came to accept menstruation passively. 2. If girls had menarche too early. they had negative feeling, even though they had enough advance knowledge. But support helped them accept menstruation easily. 3. If girls had menarche too early, they had negative feeling, even though they had enough advance knowledge on menstruation. But by experiencing subsequent menstruations and disclosing feeling, they began to accept menstruation. 4. If girls had menarche too lately and they had enough advance knowledge on menstruation. they had positive feeling. If dysmenorrhea superimposed later, their feeling turned in to negative one. But they came to accept menstruation positively by disclosing feeling and getting support. 5. If girls had menarche too early, they had negative feeling, even though they had enough advance knowledge on menstruation. In addition to this. if dysmenorrhes superimposed while they did not get enough support, they felt powerless and came to accept menstruation passively. 6. If girls had menarche too early and did not get enough advance knowledge, they had negative feeling. But disclosing feeling and support made them get sense of homogeneity and began to accept menstruation. 7. If girls had handicap, they had negative feeling, even though they had enough advance knowledge and menarche was late. But Menarche made them get feel sexual identity. Their limited hygenic control and negative empathy from their mothers made them accept menstruation passively. To let adolescent girls take their menstrual experience as a part of their lives forming a positive sense of feminine identity, it needs qualified teaching and, support and deep concern of the significant others. Nurses including school nurses should try to develop an educational program, which include menstrual physiology. hygiene during menstrual period, meaning of menstruation and impact of menstruation on the development of female sexual identity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2004

Purpose : this study purposed to investigate school nursing phenomena in Korea by applying ICNP, the international standard nursing classification system developed by ICN, and to compare school nursing phenomena at elementary, middle and high schools. Method : The subjects of this study are 110 nursing teachers from 82 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 12 high schools. In the survey, subjects were asked to score the degree to which phenomena and characteristics of Korean school nursing, identified in previous research, on a 5 point scale. Questionnaires were distributed and recovered by mail and email. The period of data collection was 6 months from July to December 2003. The general characteristics of schools and nursing teachers were represented with frequencies and percentages, the phenomena and characteristics of school nursing with the mean score of the questions, and the phenomena school nursing by school grade with ANOVA and Duncan's posterior analysis. Results : 1) As for the characteristics of schools according to school nursing phenomena related to human behavior, the mean score of questions on inadequate stress management was highest at 3.24 points followed by the score on inadequate weight control (3.23), inadequate eating habits (3.22), the risk of spine disorders (2.68), inadequate emergency management (2.62), inadequate response to sex -related problems (2.19), and smoking and drug use (1.85). 2) As for the characteristics of schools according to school nursing phenomena related to human function, the mean score of questions on oral health management was highest at 3.11 points followed by the score on the risk of digestive system disorder (2.87), improper eyesight management (2.81), the risk of respiratory system disorders (2.75), lack of sexual identity (2.52), and inadequate contagious disease control (2.12). 3) As for the mean score according to school nursing phenomena related to environment, the score of the risk of accidents in classroom was highest as 2.68 points followed by the score of the risk of accidents around the school (2.65), maladjustment to school (2.62), the risk of accidents outside the classroom (2.43), inadequate learning environment (1.83), the risk of exposure to socially and physically harmful environment factors (1.82), and inadequate waste disposal (1.77). 4) This study tested the mean scores of questions corresponding to each school nursing phenomenon in order to see if there is a difference in the school nursing phenomenon among elementary, middle and high schools, and performed Duncan's posterior comparison for school nursing phenomena. A significant difference was found at p<.1. According to the results, school nursing phenomena found to be significantly different among elementary, middle and high schools was smoking and drug use (p<.05), which appeared more problematic in high school than in elementary school. phenomena such as inadequate eating habits, inadequate weight control, inadequate response to sex-related problems and inadequate waste disposal were also found to be statistically different at p<.1; however, according to the result of Duncan's posterior comparison, no difference was found among groups in improper eating habits and improper response to sex-related problems, and a significant difference was found between middle and high schools in inadequate weight control and inadequate waste disposal. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to plan school health projects focused on the characteristic school nursing phenomena that had high scores and to develop and execute school healthe projects in accordance with the characteristics of elementary, middle and high schools. Considering that the scores of school nursing phenomena related to human behavior are high, it is necessary to introduce school health promotion projects in a systematic way.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.30 no.3 s.58
• /
• pp.630-642
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study was to examine the mortality risk associated with cognitive impairment among the rural elderly. The subjective of study was 558 of 'A Study on the Depression and Cognitive Impairment in the Rural Elderly' of Jung Ae Rhee and Hyang Gyun Jung's study(1993). Cognitive impairment and other social and health factors were assessed in 558 elderly rural community residents. For this study, a Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination(MMSEK) was used as a global indicator of cognitive functioning. And mortality risk factors for each cognitive impairment subgroup were identified by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. At baseline 22.6% of the sample were mildly impaired and 14.2% were severely impaired. As the age increased, the cognitive function was more impaired. Sexual difference was existed in the cognitive function level. Also the variables such as smoking habits, physical disorders had the significant relationship with cognitive function impairment. Across a 3-year observation period the mortality rate was 8.5% for the cognitively unimpaired, 11.1% for the mildly impaired, and 16.5% for the severly impaired respendents. And the survival probability was .92 for the cognitively unimpaired, .90 for the mildly impaired, and .86 for the severly impaired respondents. Compared to survival curve for the cognitively unimpaired group, each survival curve for the mildly and the severely impaired group was not significantly different. When adjustments models were not made for the effects of other health and social covariates, each hazard ratio of death of mildly and severely impaired persons was not significantly different as compared with the cognitively unimpaired. But, as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death decreased. Employing Cox univariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, smoking habits, physical disorders. Also when adjustments were made for the effects of other health and social covariates, there was no difference in hazard ratio of death between those with severe or mild impairment and unimpaired persons. And as MMSEK score increased, significantly hazard ratio of death did not decrease. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model, statistically other significant variables were age, monthly income, physical disorders. Employing Cox multivariate proportional hazards model by sex, at men and women statistically significant variable was only age. For both men and women, also cognitive impairment was not a significant risk factor. Other investigators have found that cognitive impairment is a significant predictor of mortality. But we didn't find that it is a significant predictor of mortality. Even though the conclusions of our study were not related to cognitive impairment and mortality, early detection of impaired cognition and attention to associated health problems could improve the quality of life of these older adults and perhaps extend their survival.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.27 no.4 s.48
• /
• pp.711-734
• /
• 1994

Among chemical agents in herbicides, dioxin (2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachloro dibenzo-$\rho$-dioxin : TCDD), a chemical contaminant in herbicides sprayed during the Vietnam War has been known to be the major agent causing toxic effects. Approximately 320,000 korean soldiers participated the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1974. Although the potential hazards of the herbicides among Korean veterans exposed were implicated, the problem had not been a public issue until 1991 when Korean veterans were informed U.S. companies, the herbicides manufacturer payed fund, from which a trust fund for New Zealand and Australian Class members were established in 1985. After a series of appeals and demonstration by the Korean Veterans demanding medical care and compensation for their serious health damages, a bill of medical care and compensation for herbicides victims was promulgated in March 1993 and become effective from May 1993, This study was carried out with two major objectives : the first to understand the health problems caused from the herbicides by reviewing literatures published, and the second to examine the nature and extent of health impacts among Korean veterans exposed and to develop valid study methods for the major study by interviewing and reviewing records on a part of veterans (638 persons) registered and completed medical examination in Seoul Veterans Administration Hospital from June to October 1993. The results obtained are as followings: 1. The literature review of 107 papers revealed that 1) Dioxin is teratogenic, carcinogenic and affects almost all organs including nervous, endocrine, and reproductive systems in animal experiments. 2) The diseases showing evidence of causal association were Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's disease, lung cancer, lymphoma, soft tissue sarcoma, chloroacne and polyneuropathy when judged on the basis of consistency in study results and biological plausibility. 2. Interview and medical record review study on 638 veterans, though limited validity owing to lack of control group, crude estimates of dioxin exposure levels (no biomarkers measurable), and uncertainty of diagnosis, showed that: 1) Most of the study subject's were in their 40's of age and had been dispatched to Vietnam during the period from $1965{\sim}1970$ around one year. 2) Most frequently complained symptoms in medical examination were motor weakness (32%), sensory abnormalities in extremities (23%), skin diseases (22%), and pain in extremities (20%) whereas in Interview they were more frequent in order of skin problem (44%), motor weakness (38%), sensory abnormalities and pain in extremities(17% and 19% each). Kappa indices on the same category of complaints between two sources of information were variable and relatively low. 3) On medical examination, only a part of the 638 subjects had initial impression (442 pts) and final diagnosis (218 pts) suggesting decision making on diagnosis appeared to be difficult even with all available modern medical technologies: in initial impression disorders from peripheral and central neuropathy were predominant whereas in final diagnosis various types of skin disorder were most frequent 4) When dose-response relationship between several conditions (from questionnaire) and arbitrary exposure scores were examined by CMH linear trend test, spontaneous abortion, sexual problems and health problem of offsprings showed statistically significant linear trends. However, pregnancy, accident and suicidal attempts did not show any relationship in this study capacity. 5) Among complaints, psychosis and neurosis (anxiety, phobia) in interview study, and memory disorder and psychosis in medical record study revealed linear trend. 6) Skin disorder was the only condition showing linear trend in initial impression and none in final diagnosis on medical examination. Even though objective to select out dioxin-related disease or group of diseases from this study was not achieved the research experiences provided firm basis for developing various methodological approaches. 3. From this preliminary study we concluded that a larger scale major epidemiologic study on health impacts of herbicides among Korean veterans exposed is not only Indispensible but also well designed study with more valid exposure information and diagnosis may be able to establish causal relationship between certain groups of diseases and exposure to the herbicides among Korean veterans.

• Journal of Mushroom
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.1-23
• /
• 2005

World production of mushrooms has been increasing 10-20% every year. Recently, Pleurotus eryngii and P. nebrodensis are very popular as new mushroom species for cultivation. Two kinds of mushrooms, Gumji (Ganoderma) and Soji, were described in old book of Samguksagi (History of the three kingdoms; 1145) in Koryo-dynasty. Many kinds of mushrooms were also described in more than 16 kinds of old books during Chosun-dynasty in Korea. One hundred and sixty commercial strains of 25 species in mushrooms were distributed to cultivators. By the way, only 8 varieties of them have registered variety protection. Mushroom industry as important export products developed from 1960 to 1980. Production of mushrooms as food was 181,828 metric tons valued at 800 billion Korean won in 2003. Isolated and identified substances from mushrooms are promising antifungal, antiinflammatory, antitumor, antiviral (anti-HIV), antibacterial & antiparasitic, antidiabetic, immunomodulating, kidney tonic, hepatoprotective, nerve tonic, and sexual potentiator. These substances can also be used for blood pressure regulation and effective against cardiovascular disorders, hypocholesterolemia & hyperlipidemia, and chronicbronchitis. Mushroom products including pharmaceuticals, tonics, healthy beverages, functional biotransformants, and processed foods have also became available on the markets. Compost and feed can likewise be made from mushroom substrates after harvest. The mushroom industry is already one of the fastest growing investment sectors in Korea. By the way, there is a need to strain improvement for variety protection, advanced cultivation technology at low cost for growers, and control of demand and supply for marketing in order to more upgrade development of mushroom industry in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.54-61
• /
• 2016

Purpose Precocious Puberty is defined as the development of secondary sexual characteristics in girls younger than 8 years, and boys 9 years. Cause premature closure of the epiphysis is a disease that eventually decreases the final adult height. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the diagnostic difference the GnRH (Gonado-tropin-releasing Hormone) stimulation test results with medical records of precocious puberty in girls. Materials and Methods From February 2015 to December 2015 it was enrolled in the girls 118 people who visited the Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Pediatrics, Endocrinology Internal Medicine. True precocious puberty group (n=57), early puberty group (n=39), were divided into Premature thelarche (n=22) group. A Tanner stage, chronological age, bone age, height, body weight for each group was determined by examining the mean${\pm}$standard deviation. GnRH test result was compared LH (Basal, 30 min, 45 min, 60 min), FSH (Basal, 30 min, 60 min) for each group, Each group LH, FSH Peak value distribution, the mean${\pm}$standard deviation was calculated for the peak LH/LH basal ratio, peak LH/Peak FSH ratio. The significance probability (P-value) between the value of each third group was determined. Results The average height of the true precocious puberty group $131{\pm}14.85$, the mean weight was $28.80{\pm}4.93$, the average chronological age $7.1{\pm}0.81$, the mean bone age was $9.9{\pm}0.9$, The average height of early puberty group was $134{\pm}5.10$, the average weight $28.50{\pm}4.43$, the average chronological age $8.05{\pm}0.03$, the mean bone age was $10.0{\pm}0.62$, The average height of Premature thelarche $129{\pm}6,01$, the average weight was $28.65{\pm}5.98$, the average chronological age $7.02{\pm}0.58$, the mean bone age was $8.04{\pm}1.29$. There was no significant difference when compared to the height and weight. There was a significant difference between the groups in the chronologic age and bone age difference (P <0.0002) True precocious puberty group showed peak LH levels at 30'(82.5%), 45'(12.3%), 60'(5.3%), in Peak FSH 30'(8.8%), 60'(91.2%). Early Puberty group showed high values in Peak LH at 30'(79.5%), 45'(17.9%), 60'(2.6%), in peak FSH levels at 30'(7.7%), 60'(92.32%). In Premature thelarche Group it showed the Peak LH levels at 30'(30%), 45'(59%), 60'(9.09%), Peak FSH levels at 30'(0%) 60'(100%). When compared with the The Peak LH/basal LH ratio, True precocious puberty group was $19.09{\pm}17.15$, early puberty group was $15.23{\pm}10.88$, Premature thelarche group showed significant differences between the three groups as $4.93{\pm}4.36$.(P <0.0001) LH Peak/FSH Peak ratio, true precocious puberty group was $1.222{\pm}0.77$, early puberty group was $1.34{\pm}1.23$, Premature thelarche group showed significant differences between the three groups as $0.3{\pm}0.09$(P <0.0001) Conclusion In order to diagnose the true precocious puberty have a diagnostic value when the LH peak after GnRH stimulation is increased by more than two to three times compared to baseline or a predetermined level or more than 5~10 IU/L increases. GnRH Test is a test for a long time and the patient discomfort due to repeated blood sampling, but the hypothalamus-pituitary gland- gonad axis activity evaluate and is the most basic accurate test in the differential diagnosis of precocious puberty disorders.