The Effect of Age and Gender in Physical Function and Quality of Life in Korean Elderly: The Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the physical function of Korean elderly by age and gender and to assess the impact of declined physical function on their quality of life. METHOD: The Korean Longitudinal Study on Health and Aging (KLoSHA) is designed as a populationbased prospective cohort study on health and aging of Korean elderly aged 65 years and over. In one city among the central metropolitan area for one year, 1,000 subjects includeing a simple random sample and an oldest-old subpopulation participated in baseline study. All subjects are older than 65 years (76.3+/-14.8, 65~98 years). We surveyed their general characteristics and symptoms related physical function and examined physical function, functional disabilities, balance function and quality of life with standardized assessment tools. RESULTS: The strengths of quadriceps were preserved over the functional level, but BMI was significantly reduced according to age irrespective of sex. Physical function and quality of life were consistently decreased according to age in female elderly, especially over 80 years. On the contrary, male elderly under 85 years preserved their physical function. In 85~89 year group, they showed the remarkable disabilities related to musculoskeletal conditions or pain and decrease of balance. Elderly people had greater disabilities and lesser confidence for balance, lower quality of life irrespective of sex. CONCLUSION:Significant gender differences in Korean elderly were found in the patterns of functional decline. Physical dysfunctions and disabilities are main factors lowering quality of life.

Evaluation of Predictive Value of Okuda, TNM, CLIP and JIS Staging Systems for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients / 대한간학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aims of this study were to validate the prognostic value of the JIS score for HCC and to compare discriminatory ability and predictive power with other staging systems such as Okuda, TNM and CLIP. METHODS: We analyzed the clinical records of 210 patients who were diagnosed as HCC from 2000 to 2002. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were done to find out factors to affect survival. To validate prognostic value of those staging systems, survival curve was obtained and analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier's method, and to compare discriminatory ability and predictive power, Homogeneity LR chi-square test and AIC score were used. RESULTS: The median survival was 19.5 months (19.1+/-14.9). The number of patients and 3-year survival rate for those staging systems were Okuda 1(126, 57.7%), 2(63, 9.0%) and 3(21, 0.0%) (p<0.001); TNM I (34, 63.1%), II (71, 59.4%), III (50, 22.4%), IV-A (6, 14.3%) and IV-B (1, 6.5%) (p<0.001); CLIP 0 (79, 68.5%), 1 (39, 34.2%), 2 (36, 16.7%), 3 (25, 20.0%), 4 (18, 5.1%), 5 (9, 11.1%) and 6 (4, 0.0%) (p<0.001) and JIS 0 (26, 78.9%), 1 (65, 65.3%), 2 (43, 21.9%), 3 (40, 25, 8.0%) and 5 (11, 2.0%)(p<0.001) in univariate analysis using Kaplan-Meier analysis. Homogeneity LR chi-square test showed more stratification power in JIS (Okuda, 102.8; TNM, 128.2; CLIP, 148.4 and JIS, 185.6) and AIC score showed superior predictive power in JIS system (Okuda, 1228.5; TNM, 1130.3; CLIP, 1117.1 and JIS, 1093.6). CONCLUSIONS: The proposed JIS system is useful system to predict survival of HCC patients. The discriminate ability of the JIS score is much better than other staging systems and has better prognostic predictive power compared to other staging systems.

The Histologic Discrepancy before and after Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of Gastric Adenoma and Early Gastric Cancer / 대한소화기내시경학회지

BACKGROUND/AIMS: We wanted to investigate of discrepancy rate between the histology of the endoscopic biopsy and that of the resected specimen obtained from the same lesion by endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). METHODS: 69 gastric adenomas and 38 early gastric cancers (EGC) that were treated by ESD from July, 2004 to February, 2006 were reviewed to analyze the relation between the histologies of the endoscopic biopsy and the resected specimen. RESULTS: The discrepancy rate between the histology of the endoscopic biopsy and the resected specimen was 40.6% for the gastric adenoma and 23.7% for the EGC. Among the 43 cases of low grade dysplasia, 6 cases (14%) were confirmed as gastric cancer after ESD. CONCLUSIONS: The histologic discrepancy between the endoscopic biopsy and resected specimen was 40.6% for the gastric adenoma and 23.7% for the EGC. Though the endoscopic biopsy may reveal low grade dysplasia, gastric adenoma should be removed by endoscopic mucosal resection because of the histological discrepancy between the endoscopic biopsy and the resected specimen.

A Case of Cavernoma of Portal Vein associated with Polycythemia Vera / 대한간학회지

in the leg and the toe and was treated with angioplasty and thrombolytic therapy with phlebotomy.

The Persuasive Effects according to Types of Exercise Promotion Advertisements for Obesity Prevention in Elementary School Students / 간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was to identify the persuasive effects of exercise promotion advertisements for obesity prevention according to the source types(ordinary people, experts, celebrity endorsers) and advertising message types(slices of life, testimonials). METHOD: Gender, height, body weight, BMI, attitude toward obesity(Aob) and exercise(Aex), and intention to exercise(Iex) were collected from 626 elementary school students in a pretest. After 2 months, six advertisements type attached to a questionnaire were provided for 20 minutes and then Aob, Aex, Iex, source credibility and attitude toward advertisements(Aad) were collected in posttest. RESULT: 1) In posttest the Iex of 6 the groups increased significantly compared with that of the pretest, 2) Source credibility of the Ordinary+Testimonial group was lower than the Celebrity+Testimonial, Celebrity+Slice of life, Ordinary+Slice of life, and Expert+Testimonial groups. Aad of the Celebrity+Testimonial group was higher than the Ordinary+ Testimonial group. 3) The Main effect and interaction effect of source types and advertising message types were significant in source credibility and Aad. CONCLUSION: Persuasive effects of exercise promotion advertisements in elementary school students was found to be the most effective in Celebrity+Testimonial. This study suggests that selection of health education advertisements according to demographic characteristics is important to promote persuasive effects.