The Physico-Chemical and Microbiological Water Quality of the Artificial Lake Keumgang

This study was performed to investigate the changing encironment of Keum River after the construction of the floodgate at the mouth of Keum River. Samples were taken from the surface wateres at 3 stations near the floodgate of the artificial lake Keumgang to measure the physico-chemikcal and microbiological water qualities from May, 2001 to April, 2002. The results were as follows; water temperature ranged from 2 to 28℃, and pH values caried from 7.5 to 9.1 respectively. The dissolced oxygen contents and COD of each station varied from 7.13 to 14.10 mg l⁻¹ and from 5.2 to 9.4 mg l⁻¹resoectively. And total nitrogen and total phosphate values varied from 0.99 to 3.15 mg l⁻¹, and from 0.01 to 0.12 mg l⁻¹ during survey periods,which meant the sampling stations have set in eutrophic level The population density of heterotrophic bacteria ranged from 0.4±0.1 x 103 cfu ml⁻¹ to 3.5±0.6 x 10³cfu ml⁻¹ for during survey periods. The population densities of physiological groups of aerobic bacteria ranged from 2.0±1.0 x 10² to 1.7±0.2 x 10³ cfu ml⁻¹ for amylolytic bacteria, from 0.3±0.1 x 10² to 1.3±+0.5 x 10³ cfu ml⁻¹ for proteolytix bacteria, from 0.2±0.1 x 10³ to 4.9±1.3 x 10³ cfu ml⁻¹ for lipolytic bacteria, and from 0.2±0.1 x 10² to 2.7±0.7 x 10³ cfu ml⁻¹ for cellulolytic bacteria during survey periods, respectively. Among the measured numbers of physiological groups of bacteria, lipolytic bacteria showed the highest population density. Howecer, the numbers of amylolytic, pyoteolytic, and cellulolylic bacteria showed the similar tendency.Article信州大学山地水環境教育研究センター研究報告 2: 57-61(2004)departmental bulletin pape

Effects of a video education program for patients with benign uterine tumors receiving high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a video education program in women receiving high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment. Methods This was a quasi-experimental study with a nonequivalent control group non-synchronized design. The participants were 54 patients who had benign uterine tumors and adenomyosis. The data were collected from June to August 2018. A 10-minute video education program on HIFU and post-procedural care was developed based on the literature. The experimental group was provided the video education program with a question-and-answer session for 10 minutes after viewing the video. The control group received usual care (i.e., verbal instructions on post-procedural self-care). The questionnaire survey was conducted twice: before the educational program and before being discharged from the hospital. Differences in uncertainty, emotions, and self-efficacy among patients were analyzed. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test, Shapiro-Wilk test, paired t-test, and t-test with SPSS version 23.0. Results The participants in the experimental group showed a decrease in uncertainty(t=4.33, p<.001), improvements in anxiety(t=–4.07, p<.001) and depression (t=–3.55,p<.001), and an enhancement ofself-efficacy (t=–4.39,p<.001) compared to the control group. Conclusion This nursing intervention was effective at reducing uncertainty, improving emotions, and enhancing self-efficacy. This intervention is feasible for use in nursing practice as an aid for patients when considering treatment methods

Permanent Pacemaker for Syncope after Heart Transplantation with Bicaval Technique

Sinus node dysfunction occurs occasionally after heart transplantation and may be caused by surgical trauma, ischemia to the sinus node, rejection, drug therapy, and increasing donor age. However, the timing and indication of permanent pacemaker insertion due to sinus node dysfunction following heart transplantation is contentious. Here, we report a case of a permanent pacemaker insertion for syncope due to sinus arrest after heart transplantation, even with a bicaval technique, which has been known to associate with few incidences of sinus node dysfunction

Egy tanúságtevő hitvalló, szolgáló, tudományos és papi pálya lezárult

Passed a Wittness of the Faith, Scientist, a Servant of The Lord, True Priest: Nicefor Petrashevich (1915–2013), canon of the Preshov Greek Catholic Eparchy. Abstract Decease of the witness of the Faith, a servant of the Lord and a famous researcher of the religious folklore: Nicefor Joseph Petrashevich (1915–2013) distinguished member of the Capitol of Preshov Greek Catholic Eparchy. Born in Čukalovce, East-Slovakia (then Csukalóc, Upper-Hungary) in 1915 as the sixth of the eleven children in the family of a Greek Catholic bishop, he was inspired by his father and elder brother who served the Lord. He studied in the high school (gymnasium) of the Cistercian Order in Eger (Northern Hungary) which provided its pupils with knowledge and deep faith. He became a choir-minister of the Uzghorod Bishopric Basilica where he turned to the examination of folklore traditions reflected in the liturgical chants. Apparently, it was his calling and his findings on the Byzantine chants contributed significantly to the understanding of religious folklore. He was known as a gift ed composer and singer, too. The Greek Catholic Church was banned in the Soviet Union which obtained Subcarpathia after the World War II, and this church was oppressed in Slovakia as well, so he faced a dilemma: to convert to the Ortodox (Pravoslav) Christianity and live free, or to remain faithful to the Catholic Church and be persecuted. Moreover, he was a coelebs, a priest who did not have a wife (despite the fact that Greek Catholic priests are allowed to have families). Consequently, he could have been elected as bishop, as the higher ranks in the Byzantine Churches are open for monks. The communist authorities offered Father Nicefor the episcopate of the Slovak Ortodox Church, if he converted to the Ortodoxy. He refused it: “my head does not accept the mithra (bishops’ crone) by leaving my Catholic faith” –he said. As a result, he was imprisoned for more than two years in Slovakia. Later he came to Hungary where could not serve as a parochial priest, but worked as cantor or helping pope in various places and in centres of pilgrimage where performed the liturgy in Church Slavonic which he sang excellently. Continuing his researches in the folk sings in the liturgy and the local traditions of the liturgical chants, he gained a small grant of the Soros Foundation in 1986 and delivered lectures for two semesters at the Department of the Folklore at the Eötvös University in Budapest in 1988–89. His papers have been partially published, but most of them are still preserved as manuscripts in the Institute of Musicology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, or even in unknown places worldwide, as he sent his works to his brothers-in-faith to the United States. In his eighties, instead of enjoying the golden days of ageing, he moved to Slovakia in order to serve as a pastor who spoke both Slovakian and Hungarian as mother tongues. He was buried in Szikszó, Hungary where the Greek Catholic Bishop of Preshov and approximately forty popes from Ukraine, Hungary and Slovakia commemorated him on 20 July 2013. Church historians and folklorists honored his memory as a researcher with a conference on 4 October 2013 in Szikszó. Proceedings are to be published next year. A memorial website about him is open for bloggers

Is Electrical Stimulation Beneficial for Improving the Paralytic Effect of Botulinum Toxin Type A in Children with Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy?

PURPOSE: The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether electrical stimulation (ES) improves the paralytic effect of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) and evaluate the differences between low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) ES in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (CP). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-three children with spastic diplegia CP who had BTX-A injections into both gastrocnemius muscles were assessed. Following the toxin injection, electrical stimulation was given to 1 side of the injected muscles and a sham-stimulation to the other side for 30 min a day for 7 consecutive days [HFES (25Hz) to 11 children, LFES (4Hz) to 12 children]. The compound motor action potentials (CMAP) from the gastrocnemius muscle were assessed before injection and at 5 time points (days 3, 7, 14, 21, and 30) after injection. The clinical assessments of spasticity were performed before and 30 days after injection. RESULTS: The CMAP area became significantly lower in both LFES and HFES sides from 3 days after injection compared to baseline values. In other words, the CMAP area of the sham-stimulated side showed a significant decrease at 7 or 14 days after injection. However, there were no significant differences in clinical assessment of spasticity between the stimulated and sham-stimulated sides. CONCLUSION: Short-term ES in both LF and HF to the spastic muscles injected with BTX-A might induce earlier denervating action of BTX-A. However, it does not necessarily lead to clinical and electrophysiological benefits in terms of reduction of spasticity.ope

Potential Association of DCBLD2 Polymorphisms with Fall Rates of FEV1 by Aspirin Provocation in Korean Asthmatics

Aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD) is a clinical syndrome characterized by chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis and aspirin hypersensitivity. The aspirin-induced bronchospasm is mediated by mast cell and eosinophilic inflammation. Recently, it has been reported that the expression of discoidin, CUB and LCCL domain-containing protein 2 (DCBLD2) is up-regulated in lung cancers and is regulated by transcription factor AP-2 alpha (TFAP2A), a component of activator protein-2 (AP-2) that is known to regulate IL-8 production in human lung fibroblasts and epithelial cells. To investigate the associations between AERD and DCBLD2 polymorphisms, 12 common variants were genotyped in 163 AERD subjects and 429 aspirin tolerant asthma (ATA) controls. Among these variants, seven SNPs (rs1371687, rs7615856, rs828621, rs828618, rs828616, rs1062196, and rs8833) and one haplotype (DCBLD2-ht1) show associations with susceptibility to AERD. In further analysis, this study reveals significant associations between the SNPs or haplotypes and the percentage of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) decline following aspirin challenge using multiple linear regression analysis. Furthermore, a non-synonymous SNP rs16840208 (Asp723Asn) shows a strong association with FEV1 decline in AERD patients. Although further studies for the non-synonymous Asp723Asn variation are needed, our findings suggest that DCBLD2 could be related to FEV1-related phenotypes in asthmatics

Time Sequence of Airway Remodeling in a Mouse Model of Chronic Asthma: the Relation with Airway Hyperresponsiveness

During the course of establishing an animal model of chronic asthma, we tried to elucidate the time sequence of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), airway inflammation, airway remodeling, and associated cytokines. Seven-week-old female BALB/c mice were studied as a chronic asthma model using ovalbumin (OVA). After sensitization, mice were exposed twice weekly to aerosolized OVA, and were divided into three groups depending on the duration of 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. At each time point, airway responsiveness, inflammatory cells, cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF), serum OVA-specific IgE, IgG1, IgG2a, and histological examination were carried out. AHR to methacholine, increased levels of OVA-specific IgG1 and IgG2a, and goblet cell hyperplasia were continuously sustained at each time point of weeks. In contrast, we observed a time-dependent decrease in serum OVA-specific IgE, BALF eosinophils, BALF cytokines such as IL-13, transforming growth factor-beta1, and a time-dependent increase in BALF promatrix metalloproteinase-9 and peribronchial fibrosis. In this OVA-induced chronic asthma model, we observed airway remodelings as well as various cytokines and inflammatory cells being involved in different time-dependent manners. However, increased airway fibrosis did not directly correlate with a further increase in airway hyperresponsiveness