Chronic fatigue syndrome has been recency reconceptualized as a bio-psycho-social disorder. Although the up-to-date pathophysiological hypothesis of this disorder in Europe & America is based on viral origin, no medical therapy has been proven effective in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. The authors report a case with chronic fatigue syndrome treated successfully with combined psychotherapy and antidepressant. Emphasizing the effectiveness and utility of the psychiatric treatment, we also review the related literatures about the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Americas ; Europe ; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic* ; Humans ; Psychotherapy

Amyloidosis is not a single disease entity but a term applied to a complex of disorders associated with deposition of insoluble fibrillar proteins in virtually pure form in various tissues of the body. This disease is encountered sometimes in America or Europe, but rarely in Korea. We had experienced one case of primary cardiac amyloidosis who was admitted to Won Kwang University Hospital due to dyspnea on exertion. This cardiac amyloidosis was confirmed by echocardiogram and endomyocardial biopsy with congo-red stain. We will report a case and review the pertinent medical literature.
Americas ; Amyloidosis* ; Biopsy ; Cardiomyopathies ; Dyspnea ; Europe ; Korea

We report a case of clinical features corresponding to Eosinophilia-Myalgia syndrome, with no causal relationship with L-tryptophan. Since the epidemic of L-tryptophan associated Eosinoghilia-Myalgia Syndrome in 1989, only 2% of the cases were found not to be related to L-tryptophan in America. We believe that this is the first case report of Eosinophilin-Myalgia Syndrome not related to L-tryptophan in Korea.
Americas ; Electrodiagnosis ; Eosinophilia-Myalgia Syndrome* ; Korea ; Tryptophan*

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: The failure of adhesion between the resilient denture liner and the denture base is a serious problem in clinic. PURPOSE: The PURPOSE of this study was to evaluate the effect of denture base resin surface pretreatments (mechanical and/or chemical) on the tensile bond strength between a resilient liner and processed denture resin. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Acrylic-based resilient liners (Soft liner; GC co., Japan & Coe-Soft; GC America Inc. USA) and silicone-based resilient liners (Mucosoft; Parkell Inc., USA & Dentusil; Bosworth co., USA) were used. Specimens in each soft lining material were divided two groups with or without mechanical pretreatment. Each denture base specimen received 1 of 4 chemical pretreatments including: (1) no treatment, (2) 30-s acetone treatment, (3) 15-s methylene chloride treatment, (4) 180-s methyl methacrylate treatment. All specimens were thermocycled and placed under tension until failure in a universal testing machine. RESULTS: 1. Silicone-based resilient liners exhibited significantly higher tensile bond strengths than acrylicbased resilient liners (P<.05). 2. Grinding the denture base resin improved tensile bond strengths of silicone-based resilient liners, but reduced tensile bond strengths of acrylic-based resilient liners (P<.05). 3. In acrylic-based resilient liners, treating with acetone significantly increased the bond strength of Soft liner and treating with methyl methacrylate significantly increased the bond strength of Coe-Soft (P<.05). However they were not effective compared to silicone-based resilient liner. 4. In silicone-based resilient liners, treating with all chemical etchants significantly increased the bond strength of Mucosoft to denture base, and treating with methylene chloride and methyl methacrylate increased the bond strength of Dentusil to denture base (P<.05). CONCLUSION: Although chemical and mechanical pretreatments were not effective on tensile bond strength of acrylic-based resilent liner to denture base, treating the denture base resin surface with appropriate chemical etchants after mechanical pretreatment significantly increased the tensile bond strength of silicone-based resilient liner to denture base.
Acetone ; Americas ; Denture Bases* ; Denture Liners ; Dentures* ; Japan ; Methylene Chloride

PURPOSE: This study was performed to investigate the influence of object shape and distance from the center of the image on the volumetric accuracy of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans, according to different parameters of tube voltage and current. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four geometric objects (cylinder, cube, pyramid, and hexagon) with predefined dimensions were fabricated. The objects consisted of Teflon-perfluoroalkoxy embedded in a hydrocolloid matrix (Dupli-Coe-Loid TM; GC America Inc., Alsip, IL, USA), encased in an acrylic resin cylinder assembly. An Alphard Vega Dental CT system (Asahi Roentgen Ind. Co., Ltd, Kyoto, Japan) was used to acquire CBCT images. OnDemand 3D (CyberMed Inc., Seoul, Korea) software was used for object segmentation and image analysis. The accuracy was expressed by the volume error (VE). The VE was calculated under 3 different exposure settings. The measured volumes of the objects were compared to the true volumes for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean VE ranged from −4.47% to 2.35%. There was no significant relationship between an object's shape and the VE. A significant correlation was found between the distance of the object to the center of the image and the VE. Tube voltage affected the volume measurements and the VE, but tube current did not. CONCLUSION: The evaluated CBCT device provided satisfactory volume measurements. To assess volume measurements, it might be sufficient to use serial scans with a high resolution, but a low dose. This information may provide useful guidance for assessing volume measurements.
Americas ; Colloids ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography* ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Seoul

As the business environment of medical recorder changes from a paper-based environment to a computer-based environment, the medical recorder has to change Health Information Manager. The most important thing of the role change for HIM is the development of college curriculum. For the development of curriculum, I invested on the situation of HIM. To invest on the situation of HIM, I invested as follows; The first content of invest is job analysis of medical recorder. The second content of invest is curriculum contents in Korea, America. The third content of invest is survey on the medical recorder. I analyzed curriculum contents of 9 colleges in America. Also 22 colleges in Korea were analyzed for this study. Also I analyzed survey contents of 263 medical recorders. I have adapted AHIMA define of HIM as follows; Health information professionals collect, integrate, and analyze primary and secondary healthcare data; disseminate information; and manage information resources related to research, planning, provision, and evaluation of healthcare services. As the base of invests, I proposed curriculum on the base of invested contents. As the proposed curriculum is not official curriculum, we have to continuously study the content of curriculum.
Americas ; Commerce ; Curriculum* ; Delivery of Health Care ; Korea ; Medical Records

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify essential global health competencies for undergraduate nursing students in Korea. METHODS: This study used a mixed methods design including an online survey with a convenient sample of 223 nursing educators, followed by an expert discussion with four nursing educators with expertise in global health. The global health competency was measured using the Global Health Competencies for Nurses in the America, which consists of 30 competencies in 6 domains. Each competency was measured by a 4-point Likert Scale, with at least 80% of 3 or 4 point scores indicating consensus that competency was considered essential for undergraduate nursing students. RESULTS: Nursing educators most strongly agreed the competencies of the Social and Environmental Determinants of Health domain as essential global health competencies for nursing students. A total of 21 items in 5 out of 6 competency domains were initially identified with at least 80% agreement. Finally, the experts decided on 24 global health competencies through the revision and integration of several competencies. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that nursing educators perceived that nursing students need to be prepared for responding to emerging global health needs. The proposed list of global health competencies can provide guidance to develop a framework for integrating global health into undergraduate nursing curriculums.
Americas ; Consensus ; Curriculum ; Humans ; Korea* ; Nursing* ; Students, Nursing*

Investigations of Enterobius sp. infection in prehistory have produced a body of data that can be used to evaluate the geographic distribution of infection through time in the Americas. Regional variations in prevalence are evident. In North America, 119 pinworm positive samples were found in 1,112 samples from 28 sites with a prevalence of 10.7%. Almost all of the positive samples came from agricultural sites. From Brazil, 0 pinworm positive samples were found in 325 samples from 7 sites. For the Andes region, 22 pinworm positive samples were found in 411 samples from 26 sites for a prevalence of 5.3%. Detailed analyses of these data defined several trends. First, preagricultural sites less frequently show evidence of infection compared to agricultural populations. This is especially clear in the data from North America, but is also evident in the data from South America. Second, there is an apparent relationship between the commonality of pinworms in coprolites and the manner of constructing villages. These analyses show that ancient parasitism has substantial value in documenting the range of human behaviors that influence parasitic infections.
Americas* ; Brazil ; Enterobius* ; Humans ; North America ; Prevalence ; South America

Medicolegal death investigations in the U.S. have become a critical part of crime investigations over the past several decades. additionally, the roles of medical examiners (MEs) and coroners have expanded beyond the field of criminal justice in recent years. despite the fact that these roles are becoming increasingly more important a systematic and comprehensive study of this complicated system is yet to be conducted. Since there is no national standard or federal system, medicolegal death investigations vary across states, districts, and counties in the U.S. In this paper, we attempted to classify the systems into three categories. We also examined the roles and work procedures that MEs and coroners commonly share across the country as well as the problems and challenges that the medicolegal death investigation system is facing today. In addition, we have also provided a brief summary of the Korean system in order to add a comparative perspective, since the Korean legal system differs substantially that of the U.S.
Americas ; Coroners and Medical Examiners ; Crime ; Criminal Law ; Humans

Obesity and metabolic syndrome are known to have an impact on the economy. Obesity and metabolic syndrome affect about 40% population in the America alone, and with about 400 million obese adults in the world, obesity is a global concern. Moreover, the prevalence of overweight children is increasing. Bariatric surgery remains the gold standard for the treatment of obesity; however, endoscopic approaches may have a significant role in the management of metabolic syndrome and obesity. Until recently, many endoscopic methods have been introduced; however, few methods are used in practice, whereas others are under experimental research. Endoscopists have an important role in the treatment of obesity because endoscopic therapies have demonstrated their safety and efficacy over the past few years. Endoscopic bariatric therapies can be categorized as follows: space occupying, malabsorption, and gastric volume reduction. In this review, we summarize the currently available non-balloon type endoscopic procedure.
Adult ; Americas ; Bariatric Surgery ; Child ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Obesity ; Overweight ; Prevalence