Effects of Acupressure on Pruritus and Sleep in Patients on Hemodialysis / 기본간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was done to investigate the effects of acupressure on pruritus and sleep among patients undergoing hemodialysis. METHODS: The study design was a nonequivalent control group repeat measures quasi-experimental study. Data were collected from June to September 2015 in the kidney center at a hospital located in B city. Participants were 42 patients; 20 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. For the experimental group, acupressure on the spots of Sameumgyo (SP6), Zoksamli (ST36), Hyolhae (SP10), and Gokji (LI11) was provided at the time of hemodialysis three times a week for 12 weeks. The numeric rating scale (NRS) was used to measure pruritus, and sleep was measured with the sleep scale developed by Jinju Oh et al. RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in pruritus (F=7.80, p=.008) and increase in sleep (F=80.90, p<.001) in the experimental group compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: The findings confirmed in the study show that acupressure is an effective nursing intervention to decrease pruritus felt by patients on hemodialysis and to increase the quality of their sleep.

The Neurocognitive Function Between the Patients Who had Subjective Memory Impairment and Mild Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the characteristic differences of neurocognitive function in patients with subjective memory impairment and in those with mild cognitive impairment. METHODS: Patients with complaints of subjective memory impairment were categorized into subjective memory impairment (SMI, n=42) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n=42) based on their scores in the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination, Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and Clinical Dementia Rating and the neurologist's diagnosis and evaluation. The neurocognitive function and depression rating between the SMI and the MCI groups were compared using the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery and the Geriatric Depression Scale. RESULTS: The SMI group showed normal concentration, visual-spatial construction ability, and depression and deficits in the processing of memory consolidation through the delay test of verbal learning. The MCI group also showed no deficits in concentration but showed impairments in delayed recall and recognition test of verbal learning, visual memory test, and frontal lobe/executive functions. CONCLUSION: The MCI group showed more distinctive neurocognitive deficits in delayed recall and recognition test of verbal learning; encoding, storage, and retrieval of visual memory; and naming ability compared to the SMI group. The implications and suggestions of this study and further research were discussed.

Effect of irradiation on cell cycle, cell death and expression of its related proteins in normal human oral keratinocytes / 대한구강악안면방사선학회지

PURPOSE: To investigate the radiosensitivity of the normal human oral keratinocytes (NHOK), and the effect of irradiation on cell cycle and protein expression. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To evaluate the radiosensitivity of NHOK, the number of colonies and cells were counted after irradiation and the SF2 (survival fraction at 2 Gy) value, and the cell survival curve fitted on a linear-quadratic model were obtained. LDH analysis was carried out to evaluate the necrosis of NHOK at 1, 2, 3, and 4 days after 2, 10, and 20 Gy irradiation. Cell cycle arrest and the induction of apoptosis were analyzed using flow cytometry at 1, 2, 3, and 4 days after 2, 10, and 20 Gy irradiation. Finally, proteins related cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were analysed by Western blot. RESULTS: The number of survived cell was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The cell survival curve showed SF2, alpha, and beta values to be 0.568, 0.209, and 0.020 respectively. At 20 Gy irradiated cells showed higher optical density than the control group. After irradiation, apoptosis was not observed but G2 arrest was observed in the NHOK cells. 1 day after 10 Gy irradiation, the expression of p53 remained unchanged, the p21 (WAF1/Cip1) increased and the mdm2 decreased. The expression of bax, bcl-2, cyclin B1, and cyclin D remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that NHOK responds to irradiation by G2 arrest, which is possibly mediated by the expression of p21 WAF1/Cip1, and that cell necrosis occurs by high dose irradiation.