The prevalence of BRCA1/2 mutations in Korean ovarian cancer patients irrespective of the family history was significantly higher than previously reported. Possible founder mutations in Korean ovarian cancer patients were identified.

Nursing burnout is associated with reduced nursing performance outcomes. Positive psychological capital is known to play an important role in improving workers’ job performance. However, the association among the three variables has rarely been addressed. The purpose of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to explore the association between burnout and nursing performance outcomes among Korean nurses working at a tertiary hospital and the mediating role of psychological capital in this relationship. Recruited through convenience sampling, a total of 285 nurses provided data on their demographic characteristics and completed a structured questionnaire consisting of items from the Professional Quality of Life Scale (burnout), Nursing Performance Scale, and Psychology Capital Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, student’s t-tests, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson’s correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression analyses were used to analyze data. The significance of the mediation effect was obtained using a bootstrap approach with the PROCESS macro. The mean age of participants was 30.51 years, and most participants were females (94.0%) and unmarried (71.6%); more than half (57.5%) experienced a severe workload. The average (±standard deviation) scores of burnout, nursing performance outcomes, and positive psychological capital were 28.77 ± 4.93, 2.98 ± 0.32, and 3.19 ± 0.45, respectively. Burnout was associated with nursing performance among clinical nurses (β = −0.20, p < 0.001). Positive psychological capital mediated the association between burnout and nursing performance outcomes (β = 0.41, p < 0.001). These findings contribute to the understanding that burnout among nurses could be reduced by increased positive psychological capital, which results in improved performance outcomes. The findings also indicate that interventions to improve positive psychological capital should be developed and implemented for nurses’ burnout management and improvement in nursing performance outcomes.

PDT may be an effective alternative treatment for premalignant lesions of the female lower genital tract to preserve normal anatomy and sexual function without therapeutic impairment. Lasers Surg. Med. 47:566-570, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors affecting sleep quality in nurses working in a tertiary hospital in Korea. Methods: The sample of two hundred and sixty three nurses was drawn from one tertiary care hospital in Korea. Using a descriptive study design, clinical nurses completed the standardized questionnaires, including sleep quality, depressive symptoms, and resilience. Descriptive statistics were computed to describe the sample and study variables. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors affecting sleep quality which was classified into two categories. Results: A total of 263 registered nurses participated in this study. Most of the participants were female (n=252, 95.8%) and single (n=148, 75.9%), with a mean age of 30.09±7.51 years. The average score of sleep quality was 8.57±3.24. Using a cutoff point of 5.0, 84.0% (n=221) were poor sleepers. After controlling for demographic and job-related variables, the depressive symptoms and resilience were associated with poor sleep quality among clinical nurses (Odds Ratio [OR]=4.56, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]=1.02~20.49; OR=0.97, 95% CI=0.94~0.99, respectively). This model explained 19.5% of the variance in sleep quality. Conclusion: The two factors reported to impact the quality of sleep were increased depressive symptoms and lower resilience levels. In order to improve nurses' sleep quality, researchers and nursing administrators need to develop and provide some strategies for decreasing depressive symptoms and enhancing their resilience.