Evaluation of the Health Status and Dietary Intakes of the Elderly in Rural Areas by Dental Status

In Korea, there has been a rapid increase in the number and proportion of elderly people, especially in rural areas, due to improvements in the standard of living and medical technology. One of the main health problems for the elderly people is dental health, which can cause nutritional and health problems. Thus, in this study, the dental health status and health status in relation to nutritional intake were analyzed. A total of 155 rural-dwelling elderly people (68 males, 87 females) over the ages of 65 participated in this study. The subjects were classified into three groups; the no denture no teeth group, denture user group, and natural teeth group. The dietary intake, biochemical health status, and anthropometry were evaluated. Can-pro 3.0 was used to assess dietary intakes and the SPSS 12.0 program was used for statistical analysis. The results showed that the natural teeth group had better nutritional and dietary intake status than the no denture no teeth group. The dietary assessment showed that there were differences in food intakes among the groups, which depended on their dental health status. In conclusion, dietary management is required for the elderly since each group has a different ability to chew food depending on their dental health status. In addition, the elderly will need different therapeutic diets because of the high prevalence of chronic degenerative diseases.

The Experience of Hospice Nurses on Spiritual Care: The Process of Untying a Knot of Mind / 종양간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of hospice nurses on spiritual care. METHODS: Data was collected from 9 hospice nurses by using in-depth interview. The main questions include what they understand as spiritual care, when they feel the needs of spiritual care, how they perform spiritual care, and what is the outcome of spiritual care. The data was analyzed by grounded theory methodology developed by Strauss and Corbin. RESULTS: The core category of experience of hospice nurses on spiritual care was identified as "Untie a knot of mind". In the process of spiritual care in hospice nurses was consisted of soothing, dwelling with, releasing, giving meaning, plunging, and going beyond a life. CONCLUSION: The result of this study was expected to give useful information to nurses and nursing managers about the real situation of performance of spiritual care. The findings of this study contributes to developing programs and supportive policies for encouraging spiritual care.

MenuGen: Menu Planning and Recommended Menu Search System for Promotion of Self Sufficiency of Korean Food

This study was conducted to develop menugen program: Korean recommended menu planning and search based on internet to promote self sufficiency of food in Korea. This program manipulate menu and search 432 Korean recommended menus which have been developed in combination of population characteristics of 9 age level, 3 residential areas, 3 income groups, four seasons and male or female. Clients can select the high self sufficiency recommended menu by inputting their age, residental area, income, season and sex in using Menugen program. MenuGen can analyze nutrients and compare with Korean Recommended Allowance about clients' menu based on their age and sex. It can access the food, dish and menu databases. And also client can use MenuGen program for menu planning and analysis nutrients. Client's menu data can be store, delete, modify and print through MenuGen too. It will be able to read the nutrition analysis data of the foods, the dishes and the menu. Therefore it provides convenient user interface to not only users but also dietitians and nutritionists, who take charge of making a menu, and experts in the field of food and nutrition. MenuGen will help the nutrition policy accomplishment and the food self-supply rate improvement of the nation with use of menu drawing up program of internet base.

Mechanism of Glutamate-inducedCa2+i Increase in Substantia Gelatinosa Neurons of Juvenile Rats

The glutamate receptors (GluRs) are key receptors for modulatory synaptic events in the central nervous system. It has been reported that glutamate increases the intracellularCa (2+) concentration ([Ca2+]i) and induces cytotoxicity. In the present study, we investigated whether the glutamate-induced[Ca2+]i increase was associated with the activation of ionotropic (iGluR) and metabotropic GluRs (mGluR) in substantia gelatinosa neurons, using spinal cord slice of juvenile rats (10~21 day) .[Ca2+]i was measured using conventional imaging techniques, which was combined with whole-cell patch clamp recording by incorporating fura-2 in the patch pipette. At physiological concentration of extracellularCa (2+), the inward current and[Ca2+]i increase were induced by membrane depolarization and application of glutamate. Dose-response relationship with glutamate was observed in bothCa (2+) signal and inward current. The glutamate-induced[Ca2+]i increase at holding potential of 70 mV was blocked by CNQX, an AMPA receptor blocker, but not by AP-5, a NMDA receptor blocker. The glutamate-induced[Ca2+]i increase inCa (2+) free condition was not affected by iGluR blockers. A selective mGluR (group I) agonist, RS-3, 5-dihydroxyphenylglycine (DHPG), induced[Ca2+]i increase at holding potential of 70 mV in SG neurons. These findings suggest that the glutamate-induced[Ca2+]i increase is associated with AMPA-sensitive iGluR and group I mGluR in SG neurons of rats.