The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Jul 2004
Development of the Korean version of Short-Form 36-Item Health Survey: health related QOL of healthy elderly people and elderly patients in Korea.
The health-related QOL (HRQOL) has been used extensively in clinical and epidemiological research and health service studies. Especially, the Medical Outcome Study Short-form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) is a widely used health status measure. However, a Korean version has not been developed and tested yet. ⋯ The test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.710 to 0.895. In addition, the utility was examined by testing the correlation between the health-related QOL and related factors (sex, age, motor function, ability of daily life) among the elderly people. The present findings suggested that the Korean version of SF-36 would be useful as a measure of the health related QOL in Korean elderly people.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Jul 2004
Lipid peroxidation and resistance to oxidation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
We investigated lipid peroxidation, resistance of plasma and red blood cells to oxidation, and antioxidant defense system in erythrocytes and sera in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. One group included newly diagnosed 20 patients and the other included 20 patients treated with oral antidiabetic agents (OAD). Twenty healthy subjects served as controls. ⋯ The sera of the patients showed a decreased resistance against oxidation. We therefore suggest that the effect of increased free radicals may be prevented by antioxidant systems in early stages of type 2 diabetes but in advanced stages this relationship is impaired owing to decreased antioxidant activity. Decreased red blood cell GSH and serum total -SH levels may be due to a compensation mechanism of the antioxidants.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Jun 2004
Basic life support skills of doctors in a hospital resuscitation team.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the basic life support skills of doctors in a hospital resuscitation team and to identify potential factors affecting those skills. Twelve anesthesiology residents were induced in this study. Each doctor was asked to perform mouth-to-mouth ventilation for 10 minutes and then chest compression for another 10 minutes on a Laerdal Skillmeter Resusci-Anne manikin during the day (10 am) and at night (10 pm). ⋯ During the first 2-minutes period of testing at night, men doctors more frequently achieved correct ventilation than did women doctors (p<0.05). Overall, the practical CPR skills of the study participants were not influenced by sex, seniority, CPR duration, or time of day; however, the participants' skills were poor. This suggests that all medical staff, especially members of in-hospital resuscitation teams, should undergo regular, periodic CPR training.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · Jun 2004
Physicians' reasons for not entering their patients in a randomized controlled trial in Japan.
Physicians' not entering their patients can jeopardize the success of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). We used a survey to investigate the possible reasons why physicians who initially agreed to collaborate did not recruit any patients for an RCT being conducted in Japan. A total of 167 questionnaires were sent out and 122 responses were received. ⋯ Multivariate logistic regression made it clear that physicians who thought that registering their own patients would damage the doctor-patient relationship and who expected the RCT would fail were more likely to be uncomfortable entering their own patients. Moreover, physicians aged 50 years or older, who felt uncomfortable recruiting their own patients, and saw no advantage in participating in the trial, were more likely to view the enrolment and follow-up procedures as cumbersome. We conclude that training and a manual for obtaining informed consent and a face-to-face demonstration of patient registration/follow-up procedures for the potential participants are prerequisites for increasing physician participation in RCTs in Japan.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · May 2004
Clinical TrialNutritional effects of supplementing liquid-formula diet with dietary fiber on elderly bed-ridden patients.
In the past few decades, the number of bed-ridden elderly patients has been increasing. This group of patients is frequently fed with a liquid formula diet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of a liquid formula diet containing dietary fiber (DF) for elderly bed-ridden patients. ⋯ Defecation frequency significantly increased one week after DF-LFD administration was started, but this effect was transient. Although a few patients complained of nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain, no severe side effects were seen. In conclusion, DF-LFD supplementation appears to be beneficial for elderly bed-ridden patients, and can increase nutritional-related parameters, such as body weight, total protein, albumin and total cholesterol, without severe side effects.