The Effects of Aroma Inhalation on Nursing Students' Stress Response and Anxiety before Their First Clinical Practice

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to verify the effect of aroma inhalation on nursing students' stress responses and anxiety before their first clinical practice. METHOD: Data were collected during the period from March 5 to March 10, 2007 at K College in a province. There were seventy eight subjects, 35 for the experimental group and 38 for the control group. Aroma oils used were lavender, peppermint and rosemary. Before and after the treatment, the severity of stress and anxiety were evaluated by VAS and a questionnaire. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test and chi2-test with the SPSS program. RESULT: The score of subjective stress (VAS) decreased significantly after aroma inhalation (p=.000), but status anxiety was not significantly different between the two groups (p=.649). CONCLUSION: Aroma inhalation can be a useful intervention to reduce nursing student's stress before their first clinical practice.

The Relationships between blood pressure and serum lipids in Korean adults

BACKGROUND: Since better understanding of the associations between blood pressure and blood lipids may provide insight into the mechanisms by which hypertension is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease, this study is aimed to explore the associations of blood pressure with serum lipids, BMI, age, FBS and life style factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, 20,826 men and 10,209 women were included for the assessment of the cross-sectional relations of blood lipids, BMI, Blood pressure and Life style factors. Stratified analyses and multivariable methods were used to control for potential confounding anthropometric and lifestyle variables. Total cholesterol and Triglyceride levels increased significantly with increasing systolic or diastolic blood pressure in both sexes. Men of 20-29 years old had steeper regression slopes for blood pressure by total cholesterol level than did women of similar age. In men, the association between blood pressure and total cholesterol level decreased with age, whereas in women, no change was observed regarding age. Body mass index modified the relation, whereas smoking, exercise, and alcohol consumption had little influence on the association. HDL cholesterol level had little influence on blood pressure. In the group of age or =40, BMI accounted more. In the group of age < 40, other variables ,besides age and BMI, are suggested to influence more on male hypertension than female hypertension. CONCLUSION: These results provides evidence that there are interrelations between blood pressure, blood lipids and life style factors that may influence the mechanisms of coronary heart disease.

The Acute Effect of Estrogen on Vascular Responses and Plasma Endothelin-1 Level in Postmenopausal Women

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although estrogen replacement therapy has been associated with reduction of cardiovascular events in postmeno-pausal women (PMW), the underlying mechanisms are pooly understood. Because the beneficial effect of estrogen on vasomotor function and production of vasoconstrictive endothelin-1 may be a mechanism by which cardiovascular disease events are reduced, we accessed the acute effect of estrogen on endothelial dependent, independent vasodilaton and plasma endothelin-1 level and investigated whether the acute effect of estrogen on vascular response is related to reduced circulating plasma endothelin-1 level. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The diameter of the brachial artery at rest, during reactive hyperemia (FMV) and to response to nitroglycerine (NMV) were measured using high resolution ultrasound. Twenty-one PMW, 523 years old, 8 of whom had hypercholesterolemia were included and randomized to receive placebo, conjugated estrogen 2.5 mg and 5.0 mg with one week between each investigation. FMV and plasma endothelin-1 were assessed before and 30 minutes after iv administration of each substance. Sublingual nitroglycerine (NG) was given at the end of each investigation and NMV was measured. RESULTS: FMV and plasma endothelin-1 were not changed after placebo administration. FMV increased sinigicantly only after administration of CE 5.0 mg in healhy PMW and both after administration of CE 2.5 and 5.0 mg in PMW with hypercholesterolemia. NG induced more significant vasodilation after administration of estrogen than placebo in only PMW with hypercholesterolemia. Plasma endothelin-1 level decreased significantly after administration of CE 5.0 mg in PMW with hypercholesterolemia. We could not find direct correlation between increase of FMV and decrease of plasma endothelin-1 level. CONCLUSION: IV administration of conjugated estrogen improves endothelium-dependent vasodilation in PMW and may improve endothelium-independent vasodilation in PMW with hypercholesterolemia. These finding may be partly originated by reduced plasma endothelin-1 level after estrogen administration.