Near-Sudden Unexpected Death of Epilepsy (SUDEP) Caused by Ventricular Fibrillation Following Seizure in a Post-Stroke Epilepsy Patient

No abstract available.

Factors Affecting College Students' Attitudes Toward the Disabled / 재활간호학회지

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to analyze college sudents' attitudes toward people with disabilities, and factors affecting the attitudes, and further to examine possible ways to improve the attitudes. and to furnish guideline of curriculum and practice in rehabilitation nursing on the basis of this analysis. METHOD: A descriptive. relational study design was used. The subjects of this study were 448 college students. A convenient sampling is used. Data were collected through 4 types of previous questionnaires used to examine attitude from May 1 to May 30, 2003. RESULT: 1. The attitude toward people with disabilities whose mean is 3.762 was responded somewhat negatively. Especially, a contact tension whose mean was 4.00 is high. 2. As a result of analyzing the attitudes of college students toward people with disabilities. some factors were statistically significant. They were experience of contact with the disabled. concern toward the disabled, voluntary work related to the disabled, and disability experience education. 3. The more negative experience of people with disabilities and the lower stereotype of disability and the higher effects of parents, teachers, and mass media, then the more positive response of peoples attitude with disabilities. 4. The main factors of determining the attitude of people with disabilities were the stereotype of disability. contact experience concern about disability, voluntary work experience. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that an appropriate educational intervention and strategy is needed in order to change the attitudes of college students toward people with disabilities. Also experimental researches are needed to do it.

The Effect of Levamisole in Steroid-Dependent Nephrotic Syndrome in Children

PURPOSE: Long-term use of steroid, cyclophosphamide and cyclosporin, which are frequently used in the therapy of SDNS, might cause severe side effects. Recently, the immune-modulator levamisole has been tried as a substitute therapy and it has been reported as a method with less side effects and more effectiveness. We started this research in order to observe the effects of levamisole and compare it to other therapy results. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We chose 16 steroid dependent nephrotic syndrome children, those who had shown frequent relapse during the immunocompromised therapy period. Mean age was 9.1+/-.4 years in children and the male to female ratio was 15:1. All of subjects were diagonized with MCNS and had received cyclophosphamide or cyclosporin before receiving levamisole. Levamisole at a dose of 2.5mg/kg was used every other day for 1 year and the relapse rate was observed. RESULTS: On average of 14 days after treatment, complete remission was visible in all of the children, and the relapse percentage was 50%, which represents 8 children, while remaining 8 children representing 50% of the cases showed no relapse during treatment. During the levamisole therapy period, the average relapse rate was reduced significantly from 2.18+/-.9/year to 0.77+/-.9/year(p=0.027). Also the average relapse rate after the therapy was reduced to 1.34+/-.1/year, which was a significant level compared to the level before treatment(p=0.003). There was no significant difference in terms of duration of remission maintenance. Duration of remission maintenance showed an average of 12.2+/-.1 months before the use of levamisole, but it was also 10.1+/-.9 month after therapy. No other side effects such as leukopenia, skin disease and other clinically significant symptoms appeared at all during therapy. CONCLUSION: The long-term medication of levamisole for the therapy of SDNS children is thought to be able to maintain stable remission by reducing the relapse frequency without causing severe side effects. Further study with a broader range of subjects is required to eluccidate the long-term effects of this treatment.

The Effects of Intravenous Methylprednisolone Pulse Therapy by Mendoza Protocol in Primary and Secondary Nephrotic Syndrome

PURPOSE: Since Mendoza(1990)'s report that long term methylprednisolone pulse therapy by Mendoza protocol (MP therapy) is a good treatment option in focal segmental glomerulo -sclerosis(FSGS), there have been reports of the effects of this therapy in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome. However, no studies have been performed on the effects of MP therapy in steroid-dependent nephrotic syndrome and secondary nephrotic syndrome. In this study, we investigated the effects of long term MP therapy in primary and secondary nephrotic syndrome in which previous treatment options were not effective. METHODS: We chose 10 children who were diagnosed with steroid-dependent minimal change nephrotic syndrome(SD-MCNS), who had shown frequent relapse during the immunocompromised or cytotoxic therapy period, and 6 children with FSGS and 5 children with secondary nephrotic syndrome children, who had shown no response during the previous therapy period. We treated these patients according to Mendoza protocol involving infusions of high doses of methyl- prednisolone, often in combination with oral cyclophosphamide for 82 weeks. RESULTS: In all the 10 children with SD-MCNS, complete remission was visible on average of 18+/- days after MP therapy was started. However, all these children relapsed during or after MP therapy. In these children, the mean relapse rate prior to MP therapy was 2.1+/-.0 relpases/year, which was reduced to 1.4+/-.9 relapses/year during MP therapy(P>0.05) and rose to 2.7+/-.0 relapse/year after MP therapy. Of the 6 children with FSGS, 4 children(67%) showed complete remission, of whom 3 children(50%) remained in the remission status during the follow up period, 1.2+/-.7 years, after the end of MP therapy. 2 children(33%) showed no response. All of the 5 children with secondary nephrotic syndrome showed remission and remained in the remissiom status during the follow up period, 1.7+/-.6 years. The only side effect of MP therapy was transient hypertension in 10 children of all subjects during the intravenous infusion of methylprednisolone. CONCLUSION: We conclude that although long term MP therapy is not effective in the treatment of SD-MCNS, it is an effective therapy against intractable FSGS and secondary nephrotic syndrome.