THE EFFECT OF ACUPRESSURE ON CONSTIPATION, QUALITY OF LIFE, AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN CANCER PATIENTS WITH CONSTIPATION

Constipation is the most common gastrointestinal complaint in the United States, resulting in about 2 million annual visits to the doctor. The purposes of this dissertation were to: 1) describe four theories of traditional Korean medicine; 2) review mechanisms of acupuncture and moxibustion and develop a conceptual model; 3) review findings from randomized controlled trials that tested the effects of acupressure used for the management of symptoms such nausea, pain, and dyspnea; 4) examine the reliability and validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in heart failure patients with constipation compared to those with gastrointestinal disease; 5) describe how Korean women experienced constipation and how constipation affected the quality of life and the experience of using complementary and alternative medicine for constipation; 6) test the effect of acupressure on constipation and to examine the quality of life and depressive symptoms in cancer patients with constipation. Meridian theory explains that acupressure stimulates meridians, a network of energy pathways in the body to increase the flow of bio-energy. Authors of 48 studies supported that acupressure reduced nausea and vomiting during pregnancy, pain, fatigue, and dyspnea. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to examine the depressive symptoms in cancer patients with constipation, but has not been tested in patients with constipation. Therefore, in this study, the psychometric properties of PHQ-9 were tested in patients with constipation. Cronbach’s alphas for the Patient Health Questionnaire were .89 and the correlation between the PHQ-9 and the BDI-II (Beck Depression Inventory) was .81 (p\u3c.01) in 382 heart failure patients with constipation. Ten Korean women reported that living with constipation is a stressful and uncomfortable experience which impacts daily activity, lifestyle, social relationships, and diet. In this pilot study, three out of five patients in the acupressure group reported that acupressure was effective in improving constipation. Cancer patients with less than a four-month history of constipation had less depressive symptoms and higher quality of life compared to patient with more than a four-month history of constipation. In conclusion, acupressure can be a safe and cost effective alternative medicine for constipation

Detection of Sensor Attack and Resilient State Estimation for Uniformly Observable Nonlinear Systems having Redundant Sensors

This paper presents a detection algorithm for sensor attacks and a resilient state estimation scheme for a class of uniformly observable nonlinear systems. An adversary is supposed to corrupt a subset of sensors with the possibly unbounded signals, while the system has sensor redundancy. We design an individual high-gain observer for each measurement output so that only the observable portion of the system state is obtained. Then, a nonlinear error correcting problem is solved by collecting all the information from those partial observers and exploiting redundancy. A computationally efficient, on-line monitoring scheme is presented for attack detection. Based on the attack detection scheme, an algorithm for resilient state estimation is provided. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm

Fabrication and tuning of plasmonic optical nanoantennas around droplet epitaxy quantum dots by cathodoluminescence

We use cathodoluminescence to locate droplet epitaxy quantum dots with a precision $\lesssim$ nm before fabricating nanoantennas in their vicinity by electron-beam lithography. Cathodoluminescence is further used to evidence the effect of the antennas as a function of their length on the light emitted by the dot. Experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations of the structures

Division and Unification: Seen through the Eyes of Korean Migrants in Berlin

Based on qualitative fieldwork among first generation Korean immigrants in Berlin, this article sheds light on their lived experiences of German division and unification. Our research questions are threefold; first, how do these immigrants from the divided Korea perceive the division and unification of Germany? Second, did the fact that the division of Germany could be overcome affect their views on the division and unification of the Korean Peninsula? Third, are there any differences between Koreans in Germany and Koreans in Korea with respect to their views on unification? Our research suggests that different from South Korea, where the discourses in the media and the academia tend to assume sharply antagonistic attitudes, discourses among Koreans in Germany are generally much more supportive of unification. This is because they have a positive perception of German unification in everyday life and, furthermore, have constructed for themselves a future-oriented identity as a people of the Korean Peninsula that will eventually be unified. Korean immigrants in Germany are considerably more optimistic about the possibility of Korean unification than people in South Korea

Methodology of Estimating Socioeconomic Burden of Disease Using National Health Insurance (NHI) Data

The cost-of-illness (COI) studies convert the burdens associated with certain illnesses into economic and monetary values so as to measure the socioeconomic costs that are inevitably incurred by a given society in association with certain illnesses. The estimated costs provided by COI studies provide an important basis for estimating the amounts of public health resources spent and productivity losses incurred and thereby make it possible to quantify the socioeconomic burdens that illnesses impose on society in general. In this chapter, we review the diverse methodologies and techniques for estimating the socioeconomic burden of disease, which is widely used in the established literature all over the world, and compare the pros and cons of each. This chapter introduces the existing COI studies in terms of their research designs, data selection and value assessment processes, applied perspectives, and chosen components of costs. Furthermore, this chapter introduces a real-world example of estimating the national economic burden of disease by using the National Health Insurance (NHI) data. We hope that this chapter will help readers better understand and use the COI study

Mixed cultures of Kimchi lactic acid bacteria show increased cell density and lactate productivity

This study was carried out to determine the characteristics of cell growth, lactate production and amino acid secretion among four kimchi lactic acid bacteria (Leuconostoc mesenteroides JEI, Leuconostoc kimchi 132, Lactobacillus sakei 171, and Weissella koreensis 521) alone and in selected mixtures. In solo culture, L. sakei 171 was superior in cell growth, lactate production and the release of amino acids to the extracellular medium. In contrast, W. koreensis 521 showed the least cell growth, lactate production and amino acid release among the tested bacteria. W. koreensis 521 consumed essential amino acids for growth, whereas L. sakei 171 released several of the essential amino acids important for the growth of W. koreensis 521. When we mixed L. sakei 171 and W. koreensis 521 at optimal concentrations, the obtained cell growth and lactic acid production were higher than those seen with either strain alone, presumably reflecting mutual effects between the two strains. Mixed culture of two kimchi lactobacilli on batch fermentation increased the cell density and lactic acid production with low nutrients consumption. These results suggest that mixed culturing of kimchi lactobacilli may be more effective than single culturing of kimchi lactic acid bacteria for improving lactic acid production.Keywords: Kimchi lactic acid bacteria, amino acid utilization, nutrients consumption.African Journal of BiotechnologyVol. 12(25), pp. 4000-400

Evolution of 2D Truss Structures using Topology Optimization Technique with Meshless Method

p. 1058-1065Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a new paradigm of Swarm Intelligence which is inspired by concepts from 'Social Psychology' and 'Artificial Life'. Essentially, PSO proposes that the co-operation of individuals promotes the evolution of the swarm. In terms of optimization, the hope would be to enhance the swarm's ability to search on a global scale so as to determine the global optimum in a fitness landscape. It has been empirically shown to perform well with regard to many different kinds of optimization problems. PSO is particularly a preferable candidate to solve highly nonlinear, non-convex and even discontinuous problems. In this paper, one enhanced version of PSO: Modified Lbest based PSO (LPSO) is proposed and applied to one of the most challenging fields of optimization -- truss topological optimization. Through a benchmark test and a spatial structural example, LPSO exhibited competitive performance due to improved global searching ability.Bae, J.; Lee, S.; Lee, C. (2009). Evolution of 2D Truss Structures using Topology Optimization Technique with Meshless Method. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/676