Nam Mi Kang

Menopause Knowledge, Attitude, Symptom and Management among Midlife Employed Women

Objectives Midlife womens knowledge, positive attitudes and management toward menopause may improve the quality of peri and post-menopause life. This study was to identify correlations of the knowledge, attitude, symptoms and management toward menopause in middle-aged women. Methods We used a cross-sectional questionnaire study applying to 231 perimenopausal and menopausal women aged from 40 to 59 years old. The completed data of 189 perimenopausal and menopausal women were analyzed through t-test, ANOVA and pearsons correlation coefficient using the SPSS statistical programme. Results The menopausal women showed significantly higher physical symptoms than perimenopausal women. The menopausal women showed significantly higher psychosomatic symptom than perimenopausal women. There was a significant correlation between the menopausal attitude and management. Conclusion This study suggests that the fundamental data of developing midlife womens symptom index (MSI) and providing menopause management could be a strategy to encourage successful menopausal transition in middle-aged women.

Associations of Breastfeeding Knowledge, Attitude and Interest with Breastfeeding Duration: A Cross-sectional Web-based Study

PURPOSE Maternal knowledge, positive attitudes and interest toward breastfeeding may improve the sustainability of breastfeeding. This study examined the associations of knowledge, attitudes, and interest toward breastfeeding with the duration of breastfeeding in Korean mothers who used the internet. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of 604 Korean mothers who breastfed their babies. Mothers were recruited through the internet and their knowledge, attitudes and interest toward breastfeeding were assessed using a web-based self-administered questionnaire. Geometric means and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. RESULTS Higher knowledge, attitudes, and interest toward breastfeeding were associated with longer duration of breastfeeding in Korean mothers. In particular, mothers who had optimal breastfeeding duration were more likely to be aware of the easiness of breast milk stimulation and breastfeeding, the development of attachment between mother and child, and pleasure from breastfeeding compared to those mothers with shorter duration. The association with optimal breastfeeding duration was more pronounced among mothers who graduated from high school for total attitude scores and total interest scores, compared to mothers who graduated from college or above. CONCLUSION The results of this study suggest that it is important to improve maternal knowledge, attitudes, and interest toward breastfeeding in Korean mothers who use the internet as a source of knowledge. Also, the study results imply that the development of strategies to target mothers with relatively low education levels may improve breastfeeding rates.

The human milk oligosaccharides are not affected by pasteurization and freeze-drying

Abstract Objectives: Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are known as important factors in neurologic and immunologic development of neonates. Moreover, freeze-drying seems to be a promising storage method to improve the processes of human milk banks. However, the effects of pasteurization and freeze-drying on HMOs were not evaluated yet. The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the HMOs profiles of human milk collected before and after the pasteurization and freeze-drying. Methods: Totally nine fresh human milk samples were collected from three healthy mothers at the first, second, and third week after delivery. The samples were treated with Holder pasteurization and freeze-drying. HMOs profiles were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight/time-of-flight (TOF/TOF) mass spectrometry and compared between samples collected before and after the treatments. Results: Human milk samples showed significantly different HMO patterns between mothers. However, HMOs were not affected by lactation periods within 3 weeks after delivery (r2 = 0.972–0.999, p < .001). Moreover, both of pasteurization and freeze-drying were found not to affect HMO patterns in a correlation analysis (r2 = 0.989–0.999, p < .001). Conclusion: HMO patterns were found not to be affected by pasteurization and freeze-drying of donor milks. We hope that introducing freeze-drying to the human milk banks would be encouraged by the present study. However, the storage length without composition changes of HMOs after freeze-drying needs to be evaluated in the further studies.

Do gender and birth height of infant affect calorie of human milk? An association study between human milk macronutrient and various birth factors

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the macronutrient of human milk (HM) and to find out the various maternal–infantile factors that can affect HM composition. Methods: 478 HM samples were collected from healthy and exclusively breast-feeding mothers who delivered healthy term neonates within 3 months. Macronutrient of the samples was analyzed and the birth data were collected. Results: In multivariate logistic regression analysis, various maternal–infantile factors were found to be associated with HM composition changes; higher fat: cesarean section (OR = 2.47, p < 0.001) and birth height (OR = 0.84, p = 0.004); higher protein: postpartum age (OR = 0.89, p < 0.001); higher carbohydrate: vaginal delivery (OR = 0.50, p = 0.005) and female infant (OR = 0.56, p = 0.012); higher calorie: postpartum age (OR = 0.95, p = 0.003), female infant (OR = 0.33, p = 0.017), and birth height (OR = 0.74, p < 0.001). Female infant (OR = 0.36, p = 0.029), birth height (OR = 0.73, p = 0.001), and postpartum age (OR = 0.95, p = 0.005) were found as independent risk factors for higher HM calorie. Conclusion: Various maternal–infantile factors were found to affect HM composition. Interestingly, delivery mode, gender of infant, and birth height were associated with changes in HM macronutrient as well as postpartum age.

Content fat and calorie of human milk is affected by interactions between maternal age and body mass index

Abstract Purpose: We evaluated the association between macronutrients of human milk (HM), and interactions between maternal age and body mass index(BMI) in matched conditions. Material and methods: Totally, 80 HM samples were collected from healthy breast-feeding mothers at fourth week of lactation. HM macronutrients and maternal data were analyzed. Mothers were subgrouped into four groups by maternal age (20 s/30 s) and BMI (overweight/normal). Results: Two-way ANOVA revealed significant interactions between age and BMI to affect macronutrients; fat, carbohydrate, and calories. Moreover, different responses of fat and calorie to BMI were found in different age groups. Conclusions: The evaluation of over- or under-weighted infants warrants considering both of maternal age and BMI.

Collaborative web-based nursing practice learning system

Nurses collaborate with other medical professionals including doctors, lab technicians, and other nurses to provide patient care. Especially, the nurses often work as a team to take care of multiple patients. However, it is fairly often for the team members to work at different time in different location as they are assigned to work in different shifts. Traditionally, the nurses keep the written patient records for the others to review and also have brief face-to-face meetings as one shift ends and the next shift starts. This process tends to be one-way communication from the nurses, who collected and/or analyzed the patient information, to other nurses in the same team without much opportunity to feedback or clarification. Although, this approach works well for the experienced nurses, the novice nurses or the nursing students in the internship settings require fairly long time to get used to it. To remedy this problem, we are developing a web-based nursing practice collaborative system, which can also act as an in-practice learning system to enable better communication and also group decision making. We designed the system to facilitate collaborative learning by a team of nurses through helping each other to work toward to achieve the goal of best nursing care.

Comparisons of proteomic profiles of whey protein between donor human milk collected earlier than 3 months and 6 months after delivery

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Human milk has nutritional, protective, and developmental advantages for premature infants. However, proteomic information of low abundant protein of donor milk is insufficient. The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare the proteome of low abundant protein of donor milk obtained at different postpartum ages other than the colostrum. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN Donor breast milk from 12 healthy mothers was collected 15 days, 2 months and 6 months after delivery and stored by medically approved methods. The whey milk proteomes were analyzed by mass spectrometry and classified using bioinformatics analysis. RESULTS Human milk obtained 15 days and 2 months after delivery showed more abundant expression of whey proteins related to the generation of precursor metabolites and energy, metabolism, and catalytic activity, compared with milk collected at 3 months. Immune and transport-related proteins were abundant at all time points. Proteins involved in cellular movement, immune cell trafficking, and the carbohydrate metabolism network was more abundant in whey milk collected at 15 day and 2 months using a network analysis. CONCLUSIONS We report proteomic information for human donor whey protein. As significant changes were found in whey proteome collected earlier than 2 months and 6 months after delivery, selecting human donor milk earlier than 2 months might be more helpful for early postnatal recipients.