The purpose of this study was to describe and explore the experience process of life of patients with Crohn's disease.

Using a grounded theory methodology, 24 interviews were performed with 7 men and 5 women, 17-47 years of age, suffering from Crohn's disease.

'Tuning of two conflicting lives' was identified as the core category, and 5 subcategories were identified and they were integrated into the core category. The identified outcomes were 'Living a withdrawn life', 'coping flexibly', 'drifting with tangled emotions' and 'maintaining long-term remission'.

When caring for these patients, it is important to identify needs, allow patients to express what they want at that moment and support them in maintaining a daily life that can be perceived as normal.

The purpose of this study was to examine risk factors for pathological gambling of horse race participants.

The participants, 508 horse race gamblers, completed the DSM-IV criteria of pathological gambling, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-K) and Symptom Checklist-47-Revision (SCL-47-R). Data were analyzed using t-test, χ²-test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression analyses. Behaviors related to horse racing, alcohol abuse, and mental health were analyzed between problem or pathological gamblers compared to recreational gamblers.

The prevalence rates of recreational, problem, and pathological gambling were 36.6%, 39.4%, and 24.0%, respectively. Frequency of gambling (≥4/day), frequency of racetrack visiting (≥3/month), accompaniment (alone), and mental health (SCL-47-R scores) were all associated with increased risks of problem and pathological gambling. Expenditure on betting (≥200,000 won/day) and alcohol abuse (AUDIT-K 8-20 scores) group members had higher levels of gambling pathology than recreational gamblers.

Problem and pathological gambling are highly associated with alcohol abuse and mental health disorders, suggesting that clinicians should carefully evaluate this population.

This study was conducted to determine the risk factors among patients with depression with Crohn's disease.

Data were collected by questionnaire from 276 patients who were diagnosed with Crohn's disease at a tertiary hospital located in Seoul. Measurements included patients' demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, depression level, and health-related quality of life. Data were analyzed using t-test, χ²-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and logistic regression analyses.

The incidence rate of depression (BDI-II≥14scores) was 31.9% (n=88). Univariate analysis revealed that being a woman, school graduation status, economic status (low), BMI(<18.5Kg/m²), disease duration (≥3 years), CDAI (≥150 scores), frequency of hospital admission (≥2), extra-intestinal manifestation (arthralgia, stomatitis), administration of 5-aminosalicylic acid, and disease related quality of life (SIBDQ<50 scores) were associated with depression. Multivariate analysis revealed that economic status (low), school graduation status, and quality of life (SIBDQ<50 scores) were more likely to report high level of depression.

Future research should consider managing depression as an essential component of comprehensive care for patients with Crohn's disease. In addition, further research is needed to develop strategies to better improve quality of life among patients with Crohn's disease who are depressed.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a smoking cessation education on endothelial function and carboxyhemoglobin levels in smokers with variant angina.

A nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design was used. Participants were 60 male smokers with variant angina admitted to one hospital: the control group (30) between September and December, 2009, and the experimental group (30) between February and May, 2010. Endothelial function, as defined by flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) of the brachial artery, and serum carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) were determined at baseline and at 3 months after the initiation of education in both groups.

Three months after the program, smoking cessation was successful in 22 of the 30 smokers in the experimental group, but only in 4 of 30 smokers in the control group (p<.001). After the education, the experimental group showed a significant increase in FMD, and a significant decreased in serum COHb compared with the control group.

The findings indicate that this smoking cessation education program is effective for hospitalized smokers with variant angina.

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors for postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs) after craniotomy.

This study was a retrospective case-control study of 103 patients who had craniotomies between March 2007 and December 2008. A retrospective review of prospectively collected databases of consecutive patients who underwent craniotomy was done. SSIs were defined by using the Centers for Disease Control criteria. Twenty-six cases (infection) and 77 controls (no infection) were matched for age, gender and time of surgery. Descriptive analysis, t-test, χ²-test and logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis.

The statistical difference between cases and controls was significant for hospital length of stay (>14 days), intensive care unit stay more than 15 days, Glasgrow Coma Scale (GCS) score (≤7 days), extra-ventricular drainage and coexistent infection. Risk factors were identified by logistic regression and included hospital length of stay of more than 14 days (odds ratio [OR]=23.39, 95% confidence interval [CI]=2.53-216.11) and GCS score (≤7 scores) (OR=4.71, 95% CI=1.64-13.50).

The results of this study show that patients are at high risk for infection when they have a low level of consciousness or their length hospital stay is long term. Nurses have to take an active and continuous approach to infection control to help with patients having these risk factors.