Nutritional Status and Utilization of Public Health Center of Elderly / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study was performed to assess the nutritional status, frequency of visiting and necessity of nutrition programs for 157 elderly(male:49, female:108) visiting public health centers in Puchon. The purpose of the study was to provide the basic data for developing a nutrition service model. The subject were investigated by interviews with a questionnaire to obtain dietary data and other information related to public health center. Blood tests for analyzing biochemical status were also carried out. The elderly showed low income status. Ninety two percent of them showed their monthly income was less than 400,000 won and 72.6% was observed as having 30,000 won/month as their pocket money. The most frequent disease reported as having or being treated were hypertension(32.6%), rheumatic arthritis(28.5%), diabetes(10.2%), and stomach disease(8.2%) for males and hypertension(33.1%), diabetes(19.4%), rheumatic arthritis(16.7%), anemia(11.1%) for females. The nutrients whose daily intakes were less than 2/3 of RDA were calcium(37.5% RDA),vitamin A(49.9% RDA), iron(60.0% of RDA) and protein(62.0% RDA) for males and vitamin A(27.7% RDA), vitamin B2 (33.3% RDA), calcium(44.1% RDA), iron(53.3% RDA), and niacin(60.0% RDA) for females, respectively. Prevalence of anemia, assessed by hemogloben using WHO definition, were 4.1% for males and 18.5% for females. The percentage of males with hypercholesterolemia( 220 mg/dl) was 2.1% and 19.4% fir females, Two percent of males and 12.0% of females were observed as having a LDL-C higher than 165 mg/dl. The mean fasting blood glucose(FBG) level of males and female was 84.2 mg/dl and 101.7 mg/dl respectively. Two percent of males and 8.3% of females were found with a FBG higher than 140 mg/dl. Seventy one percent of elderly reported they were visiting public health centers at least once per week or more frequently. They were satisfied most with the low medical bills but showed the lowest satisfaction for the facilities of the public health centers. What the nutrition service programs wanted most was nutrition counseling and guidance.

The Effect of Nutrition Education Program for Various Chronic Disease in Elderly Visiting Public Health Center / 대한지역사회영양학회지

This study conducted to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education program for elderly females with various diseases. Forty subjects(hypertension ; 20, diabetes ; 12, hyperlipidemia ; 8) out of 56 completed the 7 weeks nutrition education program. The nutrition education program was based for healthy food habits and dietary guidelines for each specific disease. It also included practicing individualized menu planning and exercising program. Energy, calcium, iron, vitamin A and ash intakes significantly increased in the hypertension group. total sodium intake did not decrease, however sodium intake per kcal decreased significantly(p<0.05). Elderly with diabetes did not show any changes in dietary intakes. Dietary protein, plant fat, ash, and sodium intakes were significantly elevated(p<0.05), but cholesterol intakes significantly decreased(p<0.05) in the hyperlipidemic group. Elderly with hypertension agreed strongly with changes of food habits such as increasing milk intake, and decreasing Kimchi, soup, pickles and salty food, and table salt intakes after nutrition education. Diabetic elderly showed significantly improved food habit scores in decreasing white rice intake, sugar intake and increasing sea-weed consumption, vegetable consumption and exercise. Hyperlipidemic elderly did not show much improvement in food habit scores except in biochemical indices. However, mean serum glucose and atherogenic index decreased in the diabetic and hyperlipidemic groups after education, respectively.

The Preparation of Platelet Panel using DNA genotyping / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: The serum should be tested with a platelet panel for identification of platelet specific alloantibodies. Such platelet panels are not available from commercial sources and can usually be made using platelets from local donor population. We prepared the platelet panel by DNA genotyping for 5 major platelet specific antigens and evaluated the detection ability of panel with clinical samples from patients showing the refractoriness to platelet transfusion. METHODS: DNA genotyping of five major platelet specific alloantigens (PlA, Ko, Bak, Pen, Br) was performed for ninety three donors by reverse dot blot hybridization technique. For the evaluation of the panel we prepared, we used the antiplatelet antibody positive sera detected by modified antigen capture ELISA. RESULTS: The most frequently encountered genotypes of platelets are PlA1/PlA1, Kob/Kob, Baka/Bakb, Pena/Pena, Brb/Brb (36% of ninety three donor platelets tested). PlA2 and Penb alleles were not identified in this study. Two cases of anti-Koa were identified using panel we prepared. CONCLUSION: The genotyping of platelet alloantigens circumvented the limitation of immunophenotyping by the general lack of quality typing antisera. It is impossible to make a good panel which was composed entirely of five major platelet specific alloantigen systems because the PlA2, Penb, and Bra are very rare alleles in Koreans. But our panel can be used for the identification of antibodies against Ko and/or Bak platelet antigen in patients with platelet alloimmunization.

A Case of Minoxidil Induced Pericardial Effusion

We saw a case of minoxidil induced pericardial effusion in a 36 years old female who developed generalized edema, weakness and hypertrichosis after taking minoxidil for 1 year. Her chest PA showed globular shaped cardiac enlargement and pulmonary congestion. Echocardiography of the heart showed moderate amount of pericardial effusion. 10 days later after cessation of the drug administration and conservative managements, her chest PA showed marked improvement of heart size and pulmonary congestion. 20 days later her blood pressure became normal with the continued use of other antihypertensive drugs.