Is the Current Lights-Off Time in General Hospitals Too Early, Given People's Usual Bedtimes?

Objective: This study aimed to investigate how shift-working nursing professionals perceive the current lights-off time in wards as early, appropriate, or late and how their perceptions can be influenced when considering people's usual bedtimes.

Methods: An online survey was conducted comprising queries about the current lights-off time in wards and respondents' opinions, self-rated psychological status, and perceptions of the current lights-off time considering others' usual bedtimes. Psychological status was evaluated using the Insomnia Severity Index, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep-16, and the Discrepancy between Desired Time in Bed and Desired Total Sleep Time (DBST) Index, along with the expected DBST Index of others.

[Experiences of Patients and Their Families Receiving Medical Services Provided by Advanced Practice Nurses at Tertiary General Hospitals].

Purpose: This study aimed to understand and describe the experiences of patients and their families who have received medical services from advanced practice nurses in tertiary general hospitals in Korea.

Methods: Data were collected through four focus group interviews with 20 patients and their families who had received medical services from advanced practice nurses for more than six months at four tertiary hospitals from November 29 to December 28, 2023. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

The Different Properties of Geopolymer Composites Reinforced with Flax Fibers and Carbon Fibers.

The main motivation for this research was to improve the properties of geopolymers by reinforcement using synthetic and natural fibers, and to gain new knowledge regarding how the nature and/or the quantity of reinforcement fibers influences the properties of the final geopolymers. The main objective was to investigate the effects of different types of reinforcement fibers on the properties of the geopolymers. These reinforcement fibers were mainly environmentally friendly materials that can be used as alternatives to ordinary Portland cement.

Dysfunctional Self-Focus and Fear of Progression in Cancer Patients Mediated by Depression, Anxiety, and Dysfunctional Sleep Beliefs.

Objective: This study explores whether cancer patients' dysfunctional self-focus is a significant contributor to their fear of progression. In addition, we investigated whether their psychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and dysfunctional beliefs about sleep may mediate the relationship between these factors.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective medical records review of 196 cancer patients who visited the Stress Management Clinic for the first time from March to September 2022.

Clinical characteristics and risk factors for oxaliplatin hypersensitivity reactions in patients with colorectal cancer.

Introduction: Oxaliplatin is an anticancer drug used primarily for cancers of the gastrointestinal tract, and oxaliplatin hypersensitivity reaction is a rare but serious side effect. This study aimed to identify the clinical characteristics and risk factors for oxaliplatin hypersensitivity reactions in patients with colorectal cancer.

Methods: This retrospective study included 280 patients who developed oxaliplatin hypersensitivity reactions and 476 patients who did not.

Examination of the relationship between symptom and performance validity measures across referral subtypes.

Introduction: The extent to which performance validity (PVT) and symptom validity (SVT) tests measure separate constructs is unclear. Prior research using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 & RF) suggested that PVTs and SVTs are separate but related constructs. However, the relationship between Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) SVTs and PVTs has not been explored.

Nurses' Perception and Performance of End-of-Life Care in a Tertiary Hospital.

Purpose: This study aimed to identify levels of perception and performance of end-of-life care among nurses and to investigate correlations between perception and performance.

Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive survey included 321 nurses from a tertiary hospital in Seoul, Korea. The participants had at least 6 months of work experience and had been involved in end-of-life care at least once, in either ward or intensive care unit settings.

Decision and Practice of End-of-Life Care in Lung Disease Patients with Physicians Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze end-of-life care practices in lung disease patients with physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLSTs).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from medical records regarding the end-of-life care practices of POLST decisions for patients with lung disease hospitalized at a tertiary hospital in Seoul, South Korea. Data were collected from January 1 to June 30, 2021.

Validation of the Korean version of the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale and its relationship with COVID-related hypochondriasis among healthcare workers who witnessed patient deaths.

Introduction: This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the Utrecht Grief Rumination Scale (UGRS) among healthcare workers who witnessed patient deaths. We also examined whether grief rumination may impact the cognitive-behavioral model of hypochondriasis.

Methods: This study was conducted via an anonymous online survey targeting healthcare workers who had worked at a tertiary hospital and had witnessed patient deaths over the previous 2 years.

Validation of the Grief Support in Healthcare Scale among frontline nursing professionals working in COVID-19 inpatient wards in Korea.

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers (HCWs) have been exposed to higher levels of anxiety and psychological stress than the general population. Nurses who cared for COVID patients could not avoid repeated mourning as they witnessed the deaths of their patients. Therefore, tools are needed to evaluate whether there is adequate support for the grieving process of HCWs in both qualitative and quantitative manners.

Grief Response of Nursing Professionals Is Associated With Their Depression, Loneliness, Insomnia, and Work-Related Stress While Working in COVID-19 Inpatients Wards.

Objective: We aimed to explore whether nursing professionals' psychological states affect their grief response for a patient's death in the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) inpatients' ward.

Methods: Survey was conducted among frontline nursing professionals working in COVID-19 inpatients wards at three tertiary-level affiliated hospitals of the University of Ulsan during April 7-26, 2022. Participants' information such as age, years of employment, or marital status were collected, and their responses to rating scales including Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) for healthcare workers, Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 items (SAVE-9), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Loneliness and Social Isolation Scale, and Insomnia Severity Scale (ISI) were collected.

Validation of the healthcare workers' version of the Pandemic Grief Scale among frontline nursing professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea.

Introduction: Nurses have been repeatedly exposed to unexpected death and grief during COVID-19 pandemic, and it is necessary to provide grief support for the nurses who have experienced the loss of patients to COVID-19. We aimed to explore the reliability and validity of the Pandemic Grief Scale (PGS) for Healthcare Workers among frontline nursing professionals working in COVID-19 inpatient wards whose patients may have died.

Methods: An anonymous online survey was performed among frontline nursing professionals working in COVID-19 wards in three tertiary-level general hospitals in Korea between April 7 and 26, 2021.

[Intention to Delegate Clinical Practice of Medical Specialists in Accordance with the Enactment of the Scope of Practice for Advanced Practice Nurses].

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the nationwide intention to delegate clinical practice of medical specialists in accordance with the enactment of the scope of practice for advanced practice nurses (APNs).

Methods: Data were collected from October to December 2021 using Google Surveys. In total, 147 medical specialists from 12 provinces responded to the survey.

The Influence of Physical Distancing, Sense of Belonging, and Resilience of Nursing Students on Their Viral Anxiety During the COVID-19 Era.

Objective: We aimed to explore how nursing students' adherence to physical distancing, sense of belonging, or resilience may be associated with viral anxiety during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) era in South Korea.

Methods: We conducted an online survey among nursing students from December 8-10, 2021. The survey gathered participants' age, sex, grades, living area, and responses to questions on COVID-19.

Specific learning disorder in mathematics and moyamoya disease: A case report.

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare neurological condition that causes impaired blood flow to the brain, transient ischemic attacks or strokes, and accompanying cognitive impairments, especially in executive functioning. There is little data on the impact of this rare condition on academic outcomes in late childhood and adolescence. Here, we present the case of Ms.

High Work-Related Stress and Anxiety as a Response to COVID-19 Among Health Care Workers in South Korea: Cross-sectional Online Survey Study.

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak had a severe impact on health care workers' psychological health. It is important to establish a process for psychological assessment and intervention for health care workers during epidemics.

Objective: We investigated risk factors associated with psychological impacts for each health care worker group, to help optimize psychological interventions for health care workers in countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Changes in weight, body composition, and physical activity among patients with breast cancer under adjuvant chemotherapy.

Purpose: Breast cancer patients are more likely to gain than lose weight during chemotherapy. Weight gain due to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients increases the likelihood of complications and the risk of recurrence. The study aimed to investigate changes in weight, body composition, and physical activity in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy.

Changes in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, disturbance in activities of daily living, and depression following chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer: A prospective study.

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the changes in oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OIPN), disturbance in activities of daily living (ADL), and depression and their interrelationships during the cancer care trajectory in colorectal cancer patients.

Methods: Eighty-six subjects participated in the study and completed the questionnaire at three time points: pre-chemotherapy, undergoing chemotherapy, and 3 months after the completion of chemotherapy. The assessment tools were Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy 20 for OIPN, Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Assessment Tool to measure disturbances in ADL, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale for depression.

Importance of dynamic central venous pressure in Fontan circulation.

We tested our hypotheses that central venous pressure (CVP) shows an excessive increase in response to volume overload in Fontan circulation according to the extent of the reduction in venous capacitance (Cv), and that the maximum CVP after volume loading is associated with hepatic congestion. Changes in CVP after angiography (volume loading) were examined in 40 patients with Fontan circulation and 29 controls with biventricular circulation. CVP significantly increased with angiography in both groups, but the changes were much more evident in the Fontan group than in controls (3.

Peri-treatment change of anorectal function in patients with rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy.

Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (PCRT) is a standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer. The influence of PCRT on anorectal function has not been objectively assessed. We evaluated the short-term influence of PCRT on anorectal function in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer using anorectal manometry.

Incidence of venous thromboembolism and the role of D-dimer as predictive marker in patients with advanced gastric cancer receiving chemotherapy: A prospective study.

Aim: To investigated the incidence and risk factors of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) receiving chemotherapy.

Methods: All consecutive chemotherapy-naïve patients with AGC who would receive palliative chemotherapy between November 2009 and April 2012 in our hospital were recruited. Their pretreatment clinical and laboratory variables, including D-dimer, were recorded.

[Chemotherapy-related Cognitive Impairment and Quality of Life in People with Colon Cancer: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Distress].

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to test the mediating effect of psychological distress in the relationship between chemotherapy related cognitive impairment (CRCI) and quality of life (QOL) in people with cancer.

Methods: A purposive sample of 130 patients undergoing chemotherapy was recruited for the cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from November 2014 to June 2015.

Clinical Evaluation of the Hemodynamic Effects of the High-Flow Nasal Cannula Therapy on the Fontan Circulation.

High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) therapy supports respiratory effort with a minimal elevation in airway pressure. We examined hemodynamic effects of HFNC therapy in a 10-year-old girl with Fontan circulation, in which positive airway pressure has deleterious hemodynamic effects. The HFNC therapy at 30 L/min improved oxygenation without an increase in central venous pressure.

[Disturbance in ADL from Chemotherapy-induced Peripheral Neuropathy and Quality of Life in Cancer Patients: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Distress].

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the mediation of psychological distress in the relationship between disturbance in ADL from chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy and quality of life in order to provide a basis for planning nursing interventions to improve the quality of life in cancer patients.

Methods: A purposive sample of 130 patients treated with chemotherapy were recruited in the cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires.

Cardiac biomarkers in children with congenital heart disease.

Background: Most congenital heart diseases (CHDs) have specific hemodynamics, including volume and pressure overload, as well as cyanosis and pulmonary hypertension, associated with anatomical abnormalities. Such hemodynamic abnormalities can cause activation of neurohormones, inflammatory cytokines, fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells, which in turn contribute to the development of pathologic conditions such as cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and cardiac cell damages and death. Measuring biomarker levels facilitates the prediction of these pathological changes, and provides information about the stress placed on the myocardial cells, the severity of the damage, the responses of neurohumoral factors, and the remodeling of the ventricle.