BACKGROUND: In response to numerous pathologic stimuli, the myocardium undergoes a hypertrophic response characterized by increased myocardial cell size and activation of fetal cardiac genes. Recently, the calcineurin inhibitor, cyclosporine has been reported to prevent the development of cardiac hypertrophy, however, others reported data which are disagreed to the cyclosporine effect on the prevention of cardiac hypertrophy. METHOD: To clarify whether the calcineurin signaling pathway is a critical for overloaded hypertrophy in vivo and to characterize the cyclosporine effect on the develpment of cardiac hypertrophy, I examined the effects of cyclosporine on the left ventricular overload in the experimental model of clipping of abdominal aorta between the diaphragm and renal artery for three weeks in rats. RESULTS: Left ventricular mass was larger in the group of clipping of abdominal aorta than in the group of cyclosporine injection after clipping of abdominal aorta, however, which had larger ventricular mass rather than control group. It means that cyclosporine suppress hypertrophic growth. Both treated and untreated animals showed increased nuclear polymorphism and euchromatin pattern, and also, ultrastructurally, showed degenerative changes in the cardiac myocytes such as swelling of subsarcolemmal cytoplasm with indistinct sarcoplasmic reticulum and "T" tubules, loosening of myofibril bundles with decreased electron density, and electron dense mitochondria with decreased number. Characteristically, the group of cyclosporine injection after clipping of abdominal aorta showed polymorphic electron dense unswollen giant mitochondria which was not characteristic in other groups. alpha-MyHC mRNA including non-spliced mRNA of the group of abdominal aortic clipping was downregulated in the both groups of clipping of abdominal aorta. beta-MyHC mRNA was upregulated in the group of clipping of abdominal aorta and downregulated in the group of cyclosporine injection after clipping of abdominal aorta. From the above results, initial response to overload is a degenerative changes of cardiac myocytes and cyclosporine may suppress hypertrophic response and the fetal gene reactivation such as beta-MyHC mRNA in this experiment.
Animals ; Aorta, Abdominal ; Calcineurin ; Cardiomegaly ; Cell Size ; Cyclosporine* ; Cytoplasm ; Diaphragm ; Euchromatin ; Heart Ventricles* ; Hypertrophy ; Mitochondria ; Models, Theoretical ; Myocardium* ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; Myofibrils ; Myosin Heavy Chains* ; Myosins* ; Rats* ; Renal Artery ; RNA, Messenger ; Sarcoplasmic Reticulum

The purposes of this study were to investigate the perception of community nutrition programs and the conditions to carry them out, for 32 directors of health centers where public health nutritionists are not employed. The results of this study can be summarized as follows. Nutrition intervention programs were not carried out actively except those for infants but the health center directors strongly felt the necessity of carrying out various nutrition programs. The factors that affect the selecting and priotizing of nutrition programs were the need of community residents, the perception of the local congressmen, and the head of the local government. The most urgent and important problem to be solved in order to intervene nutrition programs was employing public health nutritionists on a tenure basis. Other were securing necessary revenue, precise guidance, political support, hardwares, etc. These results showed the importance of employing public health nutritionists for intervening appropriate nutrition programs and improving the perception of nutrition services for health center directors, local congressmen and personnels in charge of formulating nutrition policies.
Head ; Humans ; Infant ; Local Government ; Nutrition Policy ; Nutritionists* ; Public Health*

As is widely recognized, Heo Jun was a man who under King Seonjo (1568-1608) performed his duty as a royal physician very successfully and also left a truly monumental work (Dongeuibogam), An Encyclopedia of Oriental Medicine. In spite of such a great accomplishment as a royal physician and as a compiler, Heo Jun was not accepted or treated properly by the people in the government as well as in the society He was particularly discriminated against by his lineage members as is well shown in the genealogy compiled by his clan in 1911.
*Encyclopedias ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, 16th Cent. ; History of Medicine, 17th Cent. ; Korea ; Physicians/*history ; *Public Opinion

In this work my main focus was put on two things; first, to examine the history of publication of Tongui - bogam within the nation with particular interest in the changing aspect observed from the bibliographical terms, and second, to examine the process through which Tongui - bogam was introduced to Japan and China, and the influence the book brought the two nations. Some of the findings concerning the domestic publication of Tongui - bogam are as follows. The first printing of the book was made in 1613, under the auspice of Naeui - won, one of the government organs in the capital in charge of medical affairs. It was printed with wooden movable type carved at Hullyeon - togam, the military training bureau. As for the question of the history of the domestic publication of Tongui - bogam after the first printing in 1613, we don't have enough data yet. Although there are many different editions of Tongui - bogam extant today, with different size and different font each, I could find so far only three copies which carry the data concerning its publication, one printed in 1659 by the Kyongsang provincial government with newly engraved woodblock, one printed in 1754 again by the Kyongsang provincial government with re-engraved woodblock, and one printed in 1814 by the Cholla provincial government with newly re-engraved woodblock. Each of the three was a revised edition at the time of its publication because every time it was based on the copy corrected by Naeui - won. In addition to the above mentioned three different editions of Tongui - bogam, three are quite a few copies originally printed with wooden movable type of different font, at various time and various places. None of them has any record concerning the date and place of its publication, and none of them shows that it was based on the Naeui-won corrected version as a mother copy. Accordingly, all of them carry quite a few erratum misprinting and it seems quite certain that all of them were produced before 1659. I also feel that the 1724 Japanese edition was based on one of the pre - 1659 copies. In Japan, the first publication of Tongui - bogam was made in the year of 1724 (the 9th year of Kyoho in Japanese year title) under the auspice of the Japanese government i.e. the Tokugawa Bakuf. The book carries a preface written by a man named Fubihara, then the vice president of national university, and a postscript written by Minamoto mototoru, a government attached monk physician. It was a woodblock printing and the title of the book was "Kankoku - Teisei Tongui - bogam. The reason the word "Kankoku-Teisei" the Revised Edition Printed with Officially Engraved Woodblocks", was added to the title was that the publication was made by the government and before publication the government ordered Minamoto to read through the original Tongui-bogam throughly and make corrections if any misprintings be found. Minamoto also put the so-called kunto marks, the Japanese way of punctuation system on the original text all the way so that they could read it in the their own way. As the question of what edition of Tongi - bogam the Japanese used as a mother copy and whwn and how the mother copy had been brought to Japan are not clear at all. But judging from the fact that it carries quite a few erratum in spite of their efforts at proofreading before engraving the woodblock, it seems likely that Tongui - bogam they used as a mother copy was the one which was printed in Korea before 1659. In 1659 Tongui-bogam was published in Korea by the Kyongsang provincial government in Taegu with newly engraved woodblock. According to the attached record concerning its publication, it was a revised edition based on the Naeui - won corrected-copy, and this edition carries no misprintings in it at all. On the other hand, among the various editions of the extant Tongui - bogam today we can find some copy which, originally printed from wooden movable type, carries almost the same misprinting as those found in the 1724 Japanese edition. In other words, we are quite certain that the mother copy of the 1724 Japanese edition was brought to Japan before the Naeui - won - corrected - edition began to appear in Korea in 1659. The second publication of Tongui - bogam in Japan was made in 1799 in the city of Osaka. It was reprinted from the original woodblock of 1724 edition, and this second edition was later used in China in 1890 as a mother copy. The first publication of Tongui - bogam in China was made in the year 1766. It was a woodblock edition printed in Kwangtung province, located in the southern end of China. According to the attached preface written by a high ranking official named Nungo, a native of Kwangtung area, the publication was originally initiated by the governor of that province Mr. Wang, who deeply admired the value of Tongui - bogam. Since the Tongui - bogam at that time was available only in Bigak, the palace library in Peijing, the capital of the Ch'ing dynasty, the governor Mr. Wang had to send a man to Peijing to make a manuscript copy of Tongui - bogam of 25 of the volumes. But unfortunately Mr. Wang left his post before his plan to publish the book was realized and it was thanks to another native man named Chwahanmun who donated big money to cover the expenses of publication. The 1766 edition of Tongui - bogam, one copy of which is now in the possession of Kyungbuk University library, is understandably not a good copy, because it has many erratum in it. But it was reprinted afterwards sometimes with re-engraved woodblock many times at various places in China. The second publication of Tongui - bogam in China appeared in 1890. It carries a preface written by Mincheyusang. It was based on the Japanese edition printed in 1799 in Oosaka. What is interesting with Mr. Min's preface is that it shows their deep admiration of the value of Tongui - bogam on one hand, and at the same time very critical attitude toward the basic philosophy of Hojun on the other hand.
*Bibliography of Medicine ; China ; English Abstract ; History of Medicine, Modern ; Japan ; Korea ; *Medicine ; Publishing/*history

The purpose of this study was to analyze task performance and importance level of the dietitian who is working in the public health nutrition area. Work oriented job analysis methodology was employed for the study purpose. Subjects of 38 dietitians currently working at health centers in 2002 were recruited. Based on the focus group interview with 7 public health nutritionists and 7 professors, information about task elements was collected. Questionnaires measuring work performance and self-perception of importance of the selected task elements were administered. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; 1) The tasks with high performance and importance level among 20 tasks are developing nutrition education material (B1), nutrition services for adults and the elderly (C3), writing the proposal for nutrition services (A2), evaluating service effect (A4), improving professionalism (E1), and self management (E2). 2) The task elements with high performance and importance level among weekly task elements are nutrition education for diabetes (C56), nutrition counseling for adults (C47), nutrition for hypertension (C53), managing and keeping records (C80), nutrition education for kindergarten and nursery school children (C42), searching for nutrition education materials (B26), and searching for media (B27). 3) The number of task elements with high performance and importance level among monthly task elements are 13 in the planning and evaluation of public health nutrition service, and 5 in developing nutrition education materials. The tasks of a dietitian in the public health center show a very wide spectrum. However dietitians recognize most of the tasks are important even though they cannot perform those tasks adequately.
Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Counseling ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Public Health ; Schools, Nursery ; Self Care ; Self Concept ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Writing

The purpose of this study was to analyze task performance and importance level of the dietitian who is working in the public health nutrition area. Work oriented job analysis methodology was employed for the study purpose. Subjects of 38 dietitians currently working at health centers in 2002 were recruited. Based on the focus group interview with 7 public health nutritionists and 7 professors, information about task elements was collected. Questionnaires measuring work performance and self-perception of importance of the selected task elements were administered. The results of this study can be summarized as follows; 1) The tasks with high performance and importance level among 20 tasks are developing nutrition education material (B1), nutrition services for adults and the elderly (C3), writing the proposal for nutrition services (A2), evaluating service effect (A4), improving professionalism (E1), and self management (E2). 2) The task elements with high performance and importance level among weekly task elements are nutrition education for diabetes (C56), nutrition counseling for adults (C47), nutrition for hypertension (C53), managing and keeping records (C80), nutrition education for kindergarten and nursery school children (C42), searching for nutrition education materials (B26), and searching for media (B27). 3) The number of task elements with high performance and importance level among monthly task elements are 13 in the planning and evaluation of public health nutrition service, and 5 in developing nutrition education materials. The tasks of a dietitian in the public health center show a very wide spectrum. However dietitians recognize most of the tasks are important even though they cannot perform those tasks adequately.
Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Counseling ; Focus Groups ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Public Health ; Schools, Nursery ; Self Care ; Self Concept ; Task Performance and Analysis ; Writing

No abstract available.
Female ; Humans ; Hysterosalpingography*

The purpose of this study is to estimate the minimum optimal scale(MOS) of the self-employed health insurance associations. Considering the high proportion of operating expenses, the author have selected 254 regional health insurance associations from the 1990 Finance Report of the self-employed health insurance programs. both a quadratic function and a hyperbolic function were chosen for the analysis. The dependent variables are the average maintenance cost per insured person and per household, and the independent variables are the number of insured members and of household. The minimum optimal scale was obtained from the differentiation of the quadratic function. Major findings are summarized as follows: 1. The M.O.S. was calculated as 166,174 members (27,442 households) for the rural self-employed health insurance associations and 258,462 members (75,446 households) for the urban. Providing that both the rural and urban health insurance associations would e integrated, the M.O.S. be found to become 231,687 members (68,101 households) 2. Compared with the optimal minimum scale, the magnitude of the current health insurance association found to be much smaller, less than half of the optimal scale. 3. In order to reduce the operating cost, it is necessary to enlarge the operational scale of self-employed health insurance associations.
Family Characteristics ; Humans ; Insurance ; Insurance, Health* ; Korea* ; Urban Health

The purpose of this study is to estimate cesarean section rate in Korea and analyze the socioeconomic variables and health resources which affect regional variation in the rate. Samples were drawn from the record of vaginal and cesarean section deliveries based upon insurance claim bills which have been submitted to the National Federation of Medical Insurance for the first three months, January through March, 1991. The results are obtained as follows: It was found that, cesarean section rate was increasing rapidly up to 23.1% in 1991. Cesarean section per 10 thousand insured people was 4.8 and the number of cesarean section per 10 thousand insured eligible(15-49 years old) female was 7.6. The fee for normal delivery was 109,489 won and that for cesarean section was 390,024 won. The average days of hospitalization in normal delivery was 2.3 days, and those in cesarean section was 7.6 days. On the average cesarean section has a longer of stay as much as by 4.3 days and cost 3.6 times more than normal deliveries. Cesarean section rates vary among medical facilities: 19.8% at clinics 37.6% in small-scale hospitals, and 29.1% in general hospitals. The regional variation of cesarean section rates was also fairly prominent. The South Cheju Gun has the highest rate of cesarean section, 56.2%. Meanwhile no cesarean section cases has been reported in Sunchang Gun during the period of this study. The variation is noted among provinces. The rate for Cheju province has been 3.4 times higher than that for Chunnam. The number of cesarean section per 10 thousand insured people vary greatly among regions, too. This study has found that there exists significant regional variations among various geographic units in terms of average length of stay, average cost, number of obsretricians and number of beds. Multiple regression analysis was done to identify factors explaining the regional variance of various cesarean section rates: In the urban areas, no significant explaining variables were noted except the number of beds for the dependent variable of cesarean section cases per 10 thousand insured eligible females. The smaller the number of bed, the more cases of cesarean section was noted for an urban area. The is mostly because the rate of cesarean section is higher in medium-size hospitals than in large general hospitals. In the rural areas, the factor of education has been found significant for all three dependent variables. The higher the educational level, the rate of cesarean section is most likely to rise. An income variable measured by the amount of monthly insurance contribution has been identified a powerful predictor in explaining the variance of cesarean section rates. The same has been noted for the number of obstetricians. Similar findings are observed for the country as a whole. The income level has been found as the most powerful explaining factor in the regional variance of cesarean section rates. In general the rate is higher in the urban areas, and lower in the area with more small hospitals. As this is the initial attempt to identify the factors relevant to the regional difference in the rates of cesarean section, more elaborated study is urgently required.
Cesarean Section* ; Education ; Fees and Charges ; Female ; Health Resources ; Hospitalization ; Hospitals, General ; Humans ; Insurance ; Jeju-do ; Korea* ; Length of Stay ; Pregnancy

Korea has not tried any food consumption survey so far except the national nutrition survey, which does not show food consumption patterns of different income stratas. The results of the family income and expenditure survey(FIES) by the national statistical office can be precious sources which show household food consumption patterns due to large, random. Samples, year-round survey period and socioeconomic background data. This study analyzed the FIES data to find out food consumption patterns including nutrient intakes and frequently consumed foods by households among different monthly income levels. Big difference was found in food consumption patterns among the quartile-income groups especially the amount of consumed foods, food expenditure, and nutrient intakes. For every food item, the higher the monthly invomr, yhr motr og goof yhry vondumrf. The monthly food expenditure of higher higher income strata was composed with higher percentage of relatively expensive foods compared to other stratas. Nutrient intake levels of lower income strata were 50-60% of the RDA, which showed the necessicity of food assistance programs for those high risk groups to complement the nutritional difficiency.
Complement System Proteins ; Family Characteristics ; Food Assistance ; Health Expenditures* ; Humans ; Korea ; Nutrition Surveys