• Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.322-334
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify factors related to compliance with respiratory infection preventive behaviors including hand washing, cough etiquette, and oral hygiene of older adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 100 older adults (mean age: $76.11{\pm}6.35$ years, female: 86.0%). Data were collected from a community senior center through face to face interviews by using instruments including measuring knowledge, perceived threat, self-efficacy, compliance with respiratory infection preventive behaviors. Results: The mean score of knowledge was 7.52 out of 13 in total. The compliance with hand washing with soap was 6.0% for 8 or more times per day. Among the participants, 12.0% adhered to the cough etiquette. Sixty-two older adults (62.0%) didn't use interdental brushes or floss at all. The stepwise linear regression indicated that age and self-efficacy for respiratory infection preventive behaviors were significant factors and explained 24.0% of the compliance with hand washing and the cough etiquette. Education level, cancer diagnosis, and self-efficacy for respiratory infection preventive behaviors were significant predictors of oral hygiene. The factor with the greatest effect was self-efficacy in the two models. Conclusion: The findings suggest that it is necessary to improve compliance with respiratory infection preventive behaviors among older adults using senior centers. In order to enhance the compliance, it is necessary to develop nursing programs based on the self-efficacy for respiratory infection preventive behaviors in the senior centers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5349-5353
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• 2014

Statistical methods to analyze and predict the related risk factors of nosocomial infection in lung cancer patients are various, but the results are inconsistent. A total of 609 patients with lung cancer were enrolled to allow factor comparison using Student's t-test or the Mann-Whitney test or the Chi-square test. Variables that were significantly related to the presence of nosocomial infection were selected as candidates for input into the final ANN model. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to evaluate the performance of the artificial neural network (ANN) model and logistic regression (LR) model. The prevalence of nosocomial infection from lung cancer in this entire study population was 20.1% (165/609), nosocomial infections occurring in sputum specimens (85.5%), followed by blood (6.73%), urine (6.0%) and pleural effusions (1.82%). It was shown that long term hospitalization (${\geq}22days$, P= 0.000), poor clinical stage (IIIb and IV stage, P=0.002), older age (${\geq}61days$ old, P=0.023), and use the hormones were linked to nosocomial infection and the ANN model consisted of these four factors. The artificial neural network model with variables consisting of age, clinical stage, time of hospitalization, and use of hormones should be useful for predicting nosocomial infection in lung cancer cases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.4173-4176
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• 2015

The aim of this cross-sectional analytic study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for Opisthorchis viverrini (OV) infection in an urban area of Northeastern Thailand. The participants were 254 household representatives aged 15 years or older living in the most urbanised part of Chiang Yuen municipality in Mahasarakham Province. All participants provided stool samples which were examined using the modified Kato-Katz procedure, and a structured interview questionnaire was used to collection demographic information, knowledge about OV infection, and the consumption of unsafely prepared freshwater fish. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The overall prevalence of OV infection was 15.0%, and in the multivariate analysis male gender was found to be significantly and positively associated with OV infection ($OR_{adj}=9.75$, 95%CI: 34.03-23.58) while education to secondary school level or above was a significant protective factor ($OR_{adj}=0.30$, 95%CI: 0.12-0.74). The eating of unsafely prepared fish and knowledge about OV were not significantly related to infection status. The findings were discussed in terms of issues for future research, especially the need to consider the possibility of higher rates of OV infection in urban areas than might be expected and to investigate the sources of infected fish products which may well be different from those in rural villages.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.526-536
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• 2020

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical benefits and risks of CT-guided percutaneous transthoracic needle lung biopsies (PTNBs) in patients with a suspected pulmonary infection. Materials and Methods: This study included 351 CT-guided PTNBs performed in 342 patients (mean age, 58.9 years [range, 17-91 years]) with suspected pulmonary infection from January 2010 to December 2016. The proportion of biopsies that revealed the causative organism for pulmonary infection and that influenced patient's treatment were measured. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with PTNB that revealed the causative organism or affected the treatment. Finally, the complication rate was measured. Results: CT-guided PTNB revealed the causative organism in 32.5% of biopsies (114/351). The presence of necrotic components in the lesion (odds ratio [OR], 1.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-2.7; p = 0.028), suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-3.5; p = 0.010), and fine needle aspiration (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.1-5.8; p = 0.037) were factors associated with biopsies that revealed the causative organism. PTNB influenced patient's treatment in 40.7% (143/351) of biopsies. The absence of leukocytosis (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.0-3.7; p = 0.049), presence of a necrotic component in the lesion (OR, 2.4; 95% CI, 1.5-3.8; p < 0.001), and suspected tuberculosis (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.8; p = 0.040) were factors associated with biopsies that influenced the treatment. The overall complication rate of PTNB was 19% (65/351). Conclusion: In patients with suspected pulmonary infection, approximately 30-40% of CT-guided PTNBs revealed the causative organism or affected the treatment. The complication rate of PTNB for suspected pulmonary infection was relatively low.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.409-415
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• 2005

Infection of Drosophila melanogaster adults with 6 Vibrio species revealed that V. cholerae was lethal (100% mortality) within 20 h as a result of systemic infection. Avirulent infection by V. vulnificus restricted the subsequent virulent infection by V. cholerae. The immediate transcription of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), most notably Attacin A, was delayed in V. cholerae infection compared to V. vulnificus infection. Ectopic expression of Attacin A and Metchnikowin enhanced the survival of D. melanogaster upon V. cholerae infection. These results suggest that AMPs are important in the response to infections by Vibrio species and that the signaling pathways governing their expression may be targeted by V. cholerae virulence factors to elude the innate immunity of Drosophila.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.80-88
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• 2015

The structural change and distribution of mitochondrial enzyme (ATPase, cytochrome-c-oxidase), cell proliferation (proliferating cell nuclear antigen, PCNA), cell death (caspase-3) and cell growth factor (fibroblast growth factor 8, FGF-8) in the Sprague-Dawley rat bile duct during Clonorchis sinensis infection was investigated. Experimental groups were divided into C. sinensis infection, superinfection and reinfection of C. sinensis after 'praziquantel' treatment group. As a result, C. sinensis infected rat bile ducts showed the features of chronic clonorchiasis, i.e., connective tissue thickening, ductal fibrosis and epithelial tissue dilatation. PCNA for cell proliferation increased in the infection group, and decreased after praziquantel treatment. Caspase-3 was distributed in reinfection group only. FGF-8 was distributed in the rat bile duct after praziquantel treatment but not distributed in infection and reinfection group. Overall, C. sinensis infection causes physical and chemical irritations and then brings on the abnormalities of intracellular energy metabolism and cellular growth factors, which hinders bile duct tissue from functioning properly, and resultingly, fibrosis occurs and epithelial cells dilated abnormally. More intense infection makes tissue fibrosis chronical and activates apoptosis factors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.4953-4960
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• 2013

Primary liver cancer is one of the most common cancers at the global level, accounting for half of all cancers in some undeveloped countries. This disease tends to occur in livers damaged through alcohol abuse, or chronic infection with hepatitis B and C, on a background of cirrhosis. Various cancer-causing substances are associated with primary liver cancer, including certain pesticides and such chemicals as vinyl chloride and arsenic. The strong association between HBV infection and liver cancer is well documented in epidemiological studies. It is generally acknowledged that the virus is involved through long term chronic infection, frequently associated with cirrhosis, suggesting a nonspecific mechanism triggered by the immune response. Chronic inflammation of liver, continuous cell death, abnormal cell growth, would increase the occurrence rate of genetic alterations and risk of disease. However, the statistics indicated that only about one fifth of HBV carries would develop HCC in lifetime, suggesting that individual variation in genome would also influence the susceptibility of HCC. The goal of this review is to highlight present level of knowledge on the role of viral infection and genetic variation in the development of liver cancer.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing on performance of preventive actions to be exposed to infection in emergency nurses. Methods: Participants were 200 emergency nurses working in a regional emergency medical center, 4 local emergency medical centers, and 5 local emergency medical facilities in B city. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, Scheff$\acute{e}$'s test, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS/WIN 21.0 programs. Results: There was no difference in performance of preventive actions to be exposed to infection by socio-demographic and job-related characteristics. The results of stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that levels of perception of preventive actions to be exposed to infection (${\beta}$=.40, p<.001) and protective environment on exposure to infection (${\beta}$=.22, p<.001) were significantly associated with performance of preventive actions, explaining 26.3% of the variance. Conclusion: In conclusion, improving performance of preventive actions to be exposed to infection is important to protect emergency nurses from exposure to infection. Thus, efforts to enhance protective environment on exposure to infection and to improve perceptions of preventive actions to be exposed to infection are necessary to improve the performance of preventive actions in emergency nurses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.321-333
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine radiologists' awareness and performance of hospital infection control, providing basic information needed to improve and educate how to control hospital infection. The subjects' awareness and performance of hospital infection control were respectively 141.05 and 138.15 points in average score on a 150-point scale. In all sub-areas of the control, the higher the awareness was, the higher the performance was, but the latter was relatively lower than the former. Factors that were having statistically significant effects on that awareness included the necessity of infection control education, participation or non-participation in infection prevention education and recognition or non-recognition of patients' disease state. And factors that were having statistically significant influences on that performance included participation or non-participation in infection prevention education, recognition or non-recognition of patients' disease state and the foresaid awareness itself.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.74-84
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was designed to identify knowledge and performance level of infection control among oriental medical doctors and nurses and further to identify factors that may influence practice. Methods: Data were collected using the survey method. Two hundred and forty two healthcare workers (HCW) from five oriental medicine university hospitals in Korea (140 physicians and 102 nurses) completed a survey about infection control. The study was conducted from February 1 to 28, 2011. Results: The average knowledge level of infection control among HCW was $0.75{\pm}0.13$ (score range 0~1) and the average performance level of infection control was $3.16{\pm}1.05$ (score range 0~5). 'Disinfection and sterilization' were ranked the highest in both the knowledge and performance level. In the knowledge level, 'hand washing/hand hygiene' were ranked the lowest. 'Bloodstream infection prevention' was the lowest among the infection control categories in performance. Total average knowledge and performance level of nurses was significantly higher than that of the physicians. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the oriental medical doctors and nurses' knowledge and performance level of infection control differed. The education on infection control is required to oriental medical doctors and nurses and it would contribute to preventing healthcare associated infections in oriental medicine hospitals.