A Study on Stress, Hardiness, and Self-care in Kidney Transplant Patients / 성인간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was performed to identify relationships among stress, hardiness, and the level of self-care in kidney transplant patients and use the results of this study as baseline data for developing self-care promotion programs. METHOD: Subjects were 41 patients who undergone a kidney transplantation surgery at least one month before and were receiving regular follow-up care via OPD. Four researchers interviewed each subjects by filling out questionnaires. RESULTS: The mean score of the level of stress was 2.32(SD=0.54) on a 4 point scale and the mean score of hardiness was 4.68(SD=0.62) on a 6 point scale. The mean score of self-care among the subjects was 3.83(SD=0.55). There was statistically a significant positive relationship between self-care and hardiness(r=0.42). Especially, relationships between self-care and commitment (r=.51) and control(r=.36) as the sub- dimensions of hardiness were significant. The item suggested as most stressful was economic burden and the item suggested as least stressful was sexual activity. CONCLUSION: Although transplant patients have various stressors, the positive self-care activities of the patients could be increased if the commitment and control were enhanced by proper intervention programs.

Gene Expression Changes Associated with Sustained p16 Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

BACKGROUND: The normal functions of the cell cycle inhibitor p16INK4a are frequently inactivated in many human cancers. Over 80% of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cases lack a functional p16/Rb pathway. p16/Rb pathway, as well as p53 pathway, is considered as one of key components of tumor suppression. METHODS: To study the roles of p16INK4a in HCC, a stable cell line expressing exogenous p16 was generated from SNU-449 hepatocellular carcinoma cells lacking endogenous p16, and suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was performed in parallel with the control cells. RESULTS: 1) SSH identifies fibronectin (FN1), crystallin alphaB (CRYAB), Rac1, WASP, RhoGEF, and CCT3 as differentially-expressed genes. 2) Among the selected genes, the up- regulation of FN1 and CRYAB was confirmed by Northern blot, RT-PCR and by proteomic methods. CONCLUSION: These genes are likely to be associated with the induction of stress fiber and stabilization of cytoskeleton. Further studies are required to clarify the possible role of p16 in the signal transduction pathway.