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Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of irbesartan (IRB) and amlodipine (AML) combination therapy in patients with essential hypertension whose blood pressure (BP) was not controlled by IRB monotherapy., Methods: Two multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase III studies were conducted in Korea (the I-DUO 301 study and the I-DUO 302 study). After a 4-week run-in period with either 150 mg IRB (I-DUO 301 study) or 300 mg IRB (I-DUO 302 study), patients with uncontrolled BP (ie, mean sitting systolic BP [MSSBP] ≥140 mmHg to <180 mmHg and mean sitting diastolic BP <110 mmHg) were randomized to the placebo, AML 5 mg, or AML 10 mg group. A total of 428 participants were enrolled in the 2 I-DUO studies. In the I-DUO 301 study, 271 participants were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive either IRB/AML 150/5 mg, IRB/AML 150/10 mg, or IRB 150 mg/placebo. In the I-DUO 302 study, 157 participants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive IRB/AML 300/5 mg or IRB 300 mg/placebo. The primary endpoint was the change in MSSBP from baseline to week 8. Tolerability was assessed according to the development of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and clinically significant changes in physical examination, laboratory tests, pulse, and 12-lead electrocardiography., Findings: In I-DUO 301, the mean (SD) changes of MSSBP at week 8 from baseline were -14.78 (12.35) mmHg, -21.47 (12.78) mmHg, and -8.61 (12.19) mmHg in the IRB/AML 150/5 mg, IRB/AML 150/10 mg, and IRB 150 mg/placebo groups, respectively. In I-DUO 302, the mean (SD) changes of MSSBP at week 8 from baseline were -13.30 (12.47) mmHg and -7.19 (15.37) mmHg in the IRB/AML 300/5 mg and IRB 300 mg/placebo groups, respectively. In both studies, all combination groups showed a significantly higher reduction in MSSBP than the IRB monotherapy groups (P < 0.001 for both). TEAEs occurred in 10.00%, 10.99%, and 12.22% of participants in the IRB/AML 150/5 mg, IRB/AML 150/10 mg, and IRB 150 mg/placebo groups, respectively, in I-DUO 301 and in 6.33% and 10.67% of participants in the IRB/AML 300/5 mg and IRB 300 mg/placebo groups, respectively, in I-DUO 302, with no significant between-group differences. Overall, there was one serious adverse event throughout I-DUO study., Implications: The combination of IRB and AML has superior antihypertensive effects compared with IRB alone over an 8-week treatment period, with placebo-like tolerability., Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05476354 (I-DUO 301), NCT05475665 (I-DUO 302)., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Recurring shortages of nursing peoplepower in recent Korean society have impacted nursing organizations with burnout accounting for a major part of nursing staff turnover. Thus, we studied the associations between workplace bullying, positive psychological capital, and social support and whether they predict nursing burnout. We used hierarchical regression analysis to observe changes in influencing factors by sequentially entering general traits, workplace bullying, positive psychological capital, and social support from 166 clinical nurses at two hospitals. The analysis showed that being female (β = 0.18), working three shifts (β = 0.40), workplace bullying (β = 0.24), and positive psychological capital (β = -0.28) were predictors of burnout ( F = 11.25, p < 0.001), explaining 44.5% of the variance. An analysis of the correlations between burnout, workplace bullying, positive psychological capital, and social support revealed that workplace bullying was positively correlated with burnout ( r = 0.36, p < 0.001), and positive psychological capital ( r = -0.49, p < 0.001) and social support ( r = -0.37, p < 0.001) were negatively correlated with burnout. Thus, the higher positive psychological capital within an organization, the lower the level of burnout, suggesting that organizations should consider education programs to promote positive psychological capital. In addition, healthy organizational culture should be promoted by monitoring workplace bullying.

South Korea's suicide rate has been ranked second among OECD countries, and the rate of suicidal ideation is the highest among men with alcohol use disorder. To test a hypothetical model of men with alcohol use disorder based on O'Connor's integrated motivational-volitional model, a study was conducted at a psychiatric outpatient clinic, a community addiction management center, and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in South Korea, comprising 203 men with alcohol use disorder. Data were collected using the Scale for Suicide Ideation, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, Survey of Recent Life Experiences-Short Form, Defeat Scale and Entrapment Scale. The final model was a good fit to the data ( χ 2 /df = 1.51, comparative fit index = 0.97, normed fit index = 0.92, incremental fit index = 0.97, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.96, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.05). The structural model explained 34.0% of the variance in suicidal ideation; and it validated that impulsivity, stress, defeat, and entrapment were the key factors affecting suicidal ideation. To prevent suicide among men with alcohol use disorder, it is necessary to develop a suicide prevention program that includes men's feelings of defeat and entrapment.

This study examined the relationships between stress, depression, body mass index, and food addiction in South Korean nursing students. Data from 323 nursing students in Seoul, Gangwon-do, Jeollanam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, and Jeju-do were collected via self-report questionnaires and analyzed using chi-square tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, logistic regression analyses, and the receiver operating characteristic curve using SPSS 21.0. Overall, 7.1% of students were classified as having a food addiction. Stress and depression affected food addiction, and food addiction influenced obesity. Depression and stress combined were predictors of food addiction. These findings suggest that effective stress management and interventions for depression prevention may be beneficial to prevent food addiction in nursing students.

Aim: This study aimed to examine the effects of Fumanet exercise on cognitive function, walking ability, and depression in older adults with mild dementia., Methods: A quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design with a non-equivalent control group was used. Participants were 45 patients with mild dementia (experimental group = 22, control group = 23). In the experimental group, Fumanet exercise was performed 60 minutes per day, once per week for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t test, Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and two-way repeated measures analysis of variance., Results: Gait ability in the experimental group was significantly improved compared with the control group (F = 9.08, P = .004). There were no significant differences in cognitive function or depression between the experimental and control groups. Although the intervention did not show a reduction in depression, participants exhibited a high participation rate and brighter mood with increasing sessions., Conclusions: It was confirmed that Fumanet exercise is an effective nursing intervention to improve gait ability among older adults with mild dementia., (© 2019 Japan Academy of Nursing Science.)

Background: The morbidity and mortality of patients with functional mitral regurgitation (MR) remain high, but no pharmacological therapy has been proven effective. The hypothesis of this study was that sacubitril/valsartan would be superior to valsartan alone in improving functional MR via dual inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system and neprilysin., Methods: In this double-blind trial, we randomly assigned 118 patients with heart failure with chronic functional MR secondary to left ventricular (LV) dysfunction to receive either sacubitril/valsartan or valsartan, in addition to standard medical therapy for heart failure. The primary end point was the change in effective regurgitant orifice area of functional MR from baseline to the 12-month follow-up. Secondary end points included changes in regurgitant volume, LV end-systolic volume, LV end-diastolic volume, and incomplete mitral leaflet closure area., Results: The decrease in effective regurgitant orifice area was significantly greater in the sacubitril/valsartan group than in the valsartan group (-0.058±0.095 versus -0.018±0.105 cm 2 ; P=0.032) in an intention-to-treat analysis including 117 (99%) patients. Regurgitant volume was also significantly decreased in the sacubitril/valsartan group in comparison with the valsartan group (mean difference, -7.3 mL; 95% CI, -12.6 to -1.9; P=0.009). There were no significant between-group differences regarding the changes in incomplete mitral leaflet closure area and LV volumes, with the exception of LV end-diastolic volume index ( P=0.044). We noted no significant difference in the change of blood pressure between the treatment groups, and 7 patients (12%) in the sacubitril/valsartan group and 9 (16%) in the valsartan group had ≥1 serious adverse events ( P=0.54)., Conclusions: Among patients with secondary functional MR, sacubitril/valsartan reduced MR to a greater extent than did valsartan. Our findings suggest that an angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor might be considered for optimal medical therapy of patients with heart failure and functional MR., Clinical Trial Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT02687932.

Purpose: This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Korean version of Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children (YFAS-C)., Methods: Participants were 419 young adolescent students (11~15 years old). The content validity of the expert group was calculated as the content validity index (CVI) after the translation and reverse translation process of the 25 items of the YFAS-C. The multitrait-multimethod matrix (MTMM) method was used to verify the construct validity; the generalized linear model (GLM) was used to evaluate the concurrent and incremental validity. Reliability was calculated as Kuder-Richardson-20 (KR-20) and Spearman-Brown coefficients., Results: The CVI of the 25 items was greater than the item-level CVI .80 and the scale-level CVI .90. The Korean version of YFAS-C had verified convergent validity in emotional eating and external eating and discriminant validity in restrained eating. In addition, it had verified concurrent validity in emotional eating and external eating. Finally the incremental validity of the Korean version of YFAS-C was statistically significant on BMI. Reliability was KR-20 α=.69 and the Spearman-Brown coefficient was .64., Conclusion: The Korean version of YFAS-C is a valid and reliable scale for measuring the severity of food addiction; it can be a useful scale for preventing obesity by predicting food addiction early., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflicts of interest., (© 2019 Korean Society of Nursing Science.)

Purpose: Recently, the diastolic strain rate (DSR) utilizing speckle-tracking echocardiography has been proposed as a novel parameter for left ventricular diastolic function. We aimed to present normal reference data for those in a large-sized, selected group of healthy individuals., Methods: The current study was a part of the Normal echOcardiogRaphic Measurements in KoreAn popuLation (NORMAL), a prospective nationwide survey from 23 centers in Korea. We analyzed 447 subjects (age 48 ± 15 years, 234 females) without any history of cardiovascular disease and presented the early and late DSRs (SR e and SR a , respectively) in a total and gender-/age-specified groups., Results: Among the total subjects, the mean SR e and SR a were 1.6 ± 0.4 S -1 and 0.8 ± 0.3 S -1 , respectively. With increasing age, there were significant trends of decreasing SR e and increasing SR a . Although both gender groups showed comparable age, the female group presented significantly higher SR e compared to male subjects with age of 20-59 years, which diminished after the age of 60 years. However, the SR a was comparable between genders in all age groups. On multiple linear regression, age showed independent associations with both SR e (β = -0.132, P = .010) and SR a (β = 0.440, P < .001), whereas gender did not show any association with SR e or SR a ., Conclusion: We present normal reference data of a novel parameter, DSR, in a large-sized selected group with healthy Korean subjects. Additionally, we present significant age-related changes both in SR e and SR a without the impact of their gender., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The aim of this study was to represent the trend of early menarche and to assess the association of age at menarche with anthropometric profiles of Korean children and adolescents. A cross sectional survey was conducted with 13,371 girls aged 10 to 18 yr, recruited nationwide from April, 2005 to March, 2006. Height, weight and waist circumference of the subjects were measured; and the subjects self-reported their ages at menarche. We found that the menarcheal girls were taller (P<0.05 for the girls between 10 and 14 yr) and heavier (P<0.05 for the girls between 10 and 18 yr) than non-menarcheal ones. Menarcheal girls also showed higher body mass index (BMI), and greater waist circumference than non-menarcheal ones. Significant differences were represented according to the age at menarche in terms of BMI, waist circumference, % body fat mass, waist hip ratio and neck circumference as well as height and weight (P<0.05). In conclusion, girls who matured early were taller and heavier in early adolescence than those who matured later.