The Reliability and Validity of Korean Version of Questionnaire for Nicotine Dependence

BACKGROUND: Although the Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ) and the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), which are the tools to measure Nicotine Dependence, have a high internal reliability and a high test-retest reliability, they have not been tested domestically. A Korean-Version Questionnaire for Nicotine Dependence was assessed to find out the internal reliability, test-retest reliability and validity. METHODS: The research subjects were adult smokers of ages between 19 and 77 among hospital visitors, hospital staffs, inpatients and outpatients. The smokers had their carbon monoxide measured after responding to the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of Nicotine Dependence (FTQ & FTND), the history of smoking, the variables related to Nicotine Dependence, and factors that influence carbon monoxide(CO) measurement. Micro II smokerlyzer (Bedfont Instruments Ltd, England) was used to analyze CO concentration in expired air. The method used for measuring CO concentration was to deeply inhale and hold one's breath for 15 seconds and measure CO concentration while exhaling. RESULTS: The total number of subjects was 205 (199 males, 6 females) consisting of 124 hospital visitors, 67 hospital staff, 8 inpatients, and 6 inpatients. The average FTQ was 4.68 and the average FTND was 3.95. Cronbach's alpha, which indicates the internal reliability, was 0.6679 for FTQ and 0.6913 for FTND. The correlation coefficient which indicates test-retest reliability was 0.783 for FTQ and 0.880 for FTND. The correlation coefficient which indicates the relationship between the level of Nicotine Dependence and expired air CO concentration was 0.484 for FTQ and 0.563 for FTND. The correlation coefficient of the smoking period was 0.247 for FTQ and 0.252 for FTND. CONCLUSION: This Korean-Version Questionnaires for Nicotine Dependence (FTQ & FTND) were both satisfactory from the aspects of reliability and validity. It was concluded that the Korean-Version of FTND was a reliable method to reflect the level of nicotine dependence of smokers from the fact that the reliability and validity of FTND was higher than that of FTQ.

Sequential Change of Nitric Oxide Synthase in Rat Hippocampus after Kanic Acid-induced Seizure / 대한해부학회지

We have investigated the neural cell damage and the change in the expression of NOS in the rat hippocampus, one of the brain structures most vulnerable to seizures. Rats were injected with kainic acid (KA) and sacrificed 6 h, 1 d, 3 d and 6 d after KA administration. The neural cell damage and the expression pattern of NOS was studied using silver impregnation, NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis. Silver impregnation revealed that kainic acid caused pyramical cell damage which was most severe in the CA1/CA2 subfield and hilus and to a lesser degree in the CA3 region. The optical densities of NADPH-d-positive neurons in the CA1, CA3 and dentate gyrus (DG) regions of the hippocampus were shown to have increased in samples obtained 1 d and 3 d after injection of KA. The number of NADPH-d-positive neurons in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus was shown to have decreased in samples obtained 3 d and 6 d after injection of KA. However, the number of NADPH-d-positive neurons in the DG region did not change significantly. The increase in the levels of nNOS, iNOS and eNOS mRNA reached maximal values in samples obtained 1 d after KA treatment. Our findings indicate that the KA-induced seizures induce neural cell damage, increase NOS activity and upregulate the expression of NOS mRNA, which suggests the possibility of a functional role of NOS in bringing about changes in the cells in the hippocampus following seizures.