The Effects of Laughter Therapy on Stress Responses in Patients with Preoperative Breast Cancer / 종양간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of laughter therapy on mood, state anxiety, and serum cortisol based on a Stress-Coping Model for preoperative breast cancer patients. METHODS: The study used a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. The participants were 40 breast cancer patients who were admitted to one general hospital for surgery in 2009 (experimental group 23, control group 17). The experimental group received one hour laughter therapy consisting of dance, lots of laughter techniques, and meditation. RESULTS: The mean ages were 47 years (experimental group) and 49 years (control group). There were no significant differences in demographic and disease-related characteristics between the two groups. After the intervention, the scores of mood and state-anxiety of experimental group were significantly improved than those of control group. However, no difference was found in serum cortisol. CONCLUSION: The laughter therapy was partially effective in improving stress response in patients with breast cancer. Further research is needed to develop and evaluate the longer periods of interventions to testify the effects on serum cortisol, and other biochemical variables.

Diagnosis of Fatty Liver Complicated by Simple Obesity in Children: Serum ALT and Its Correlation with Abdominal CT and Liver Biopsy / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of our study is to provide useful information for diagnostic methods of fatty liver by childhood simple obesity and to provide correlation between serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) for screening test and abdominal computerized tomography (CT) and liver biopsy for confirmative diagnostic methods of fatty liver. METHODS: Among 78 obese childrens who visited our hospital, CT was carried out in 26 childrens. Of these, liver biopsy was carried out in 15 childrens who had high obesity index or severe elevated ALT. Based on the level of serum ALT, 26 cases were classified into 3 groups, and compared with physical measurements and degree of fatty infiltration on CT and liver biopsy. RESULTS: 1) Correlation between ALT and physical measurements: Of 26 obese children, ALT was abnormally elevated (>30 IU/L) in 17 cases (67.4%) but there was no significant correlation between ALT and physical measurements (p>0.05). 2) Correlation between degree of fatty infiltration on CT and ALT: Of 26 cases, 13 cases (50%) revealed fatty liver on CT. The degree of fatty liver on CT had significant correlation with elevation of ALT (p0.05), but significant correlation with ALT (p<0.05). 4) Correlation between CT and liver biopsy finding: Both CT and liver biopsy were performed in 15 cases of which 6 cases revealed normal finding on CT and 9 cases manifested fatty liver. There was significant correlation between CT and liver biopsy findings (r=0.6094). CONCLUSION: The results of our study suggest that abdominal CT and liver biopsy are useful and accurate methods of estimating fatty liver in the childhood obesity. But biochemical abnormalities of routine liver function tests dot not correlate well with severity of the fatty liver and liver injury.