A accidental spills of phenol(100%) to the river Nakdong with subsequent contamination of the tap water for about two million consumers in Taegu city of Korea were occurred in March 1991. A historical cohort study of 6,913 individuals was undertaken to determine the associated with illness. Population subjects were divided into two groups of exposed and unexposed. Exposed subjects were reported to be phenol associated symptoms significantly higher than those in a nearby unexposed area(39.6% vs 9.4%, p<0.01). Especially, in the related symptoms, highly significant differences were noted in the number of subjects reporting gastrointestinal illness such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or abdominal pain. During the accident, study subjects who experienced peculiar taste or odor in the tap water were significantly higher in the exposed areas(92% vs 34.3%). Chlorophenols formed from chlorination of water may have aggravated the problem.
Abdominal Pain ; Chlorophenols ; Cohort Studies ; Daegu ; Diarrhea ; Drinking Water* ; Drinking* ; Equipment and Supplies* ; Halogenation ; Korea ; Nausea ; Odors ; Phenol* ; Rivers ; Vomiting ; Water

A number of genetic and environmental factors influence athletic performance. Cardiovascular fitness is an important factor of athletic success, and ACE gene is a good candidate for regulating cardiac and vascular function. Because younger subjects have less chance of being exposed to environmental factors than older ones, genetic factors have a relatively greater influence on younger subjects. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of I/D polymorphism in the ACE gene between Korean young controls and athletes. By association study, there were no significant differences in genotype and allele distributions between two groups, respectively (P> 0.05). When stratified by sporting disciplines, the significant difference in distribution was not also detected in our study (P> 0.05). These results do not support the hypothesis that the I/D polymorphism in the ACE gene is associated with endurance performance in Korean young subjects.
Alleles ; Athletes* ; Athletic Performance ; Genotype ; Humans ; Sports

PURPOSE:This study was performed to determine the clinical course of BCG lymphadenitis. METHODS:Between May 2005 and April 2009, the medical records of 33 patients with BCG lymphadenitis were retrospectively reviewed. If needed, needle aspiration was recommended without surgical resection or antituberculous medication. RESULTS:Of the 33 patients who were identified, 21 were males and 12 were females. Among the 33 patients, 32 were full-term babies. The mean age was 6 months (range, 2-35 months) and the most prevalent site of the lesion was the left axilla. BCG lymphadenitis was observed 1-34 months after BCG vaccination, mostly 1-6 months after vaccination. The size of the enlargement was generally 1-3 cm. The strains were identified as French (n=14), Danish (n=7), and Tokyo (n=12). BCG lymphadenitis regressed spontaneously in 19 patients. After 1-5 needle aspirations, 14 patients recovered completely. Complete regression of lymphadenitis was recorded over an average period of 4 months. CONCLUSION:Clinicians need to be aware of the clinical features of BCG lymphadenitis. For management of BCG lymphadenitis, regular follow-up with observation should be the mainstay. Needle aspiration is a safe and easy treatment for suppurative BCG lymphadenitis.
Aspirations (Psychology) ; Axilla ; BCG Vaccine ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Lymphadenitis ; Male ; Medical Records ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Needles ; Retrospective Studies ; Tokyo ; Vaccination

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective clinical and radiographic review. OBJECTIVES: To assess the treatment for the recurred symptoms caused by various sequential degenerative changes at the adja-cent segments to previous lumbar fusion. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: Accelerated degeneration of lumbar segments adjacent to a previous fusion has been established, but the treatment for this condition has rarely been demonstrated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 19 consecutive patients who had treatments for the recurred symptoms caused by a sequential degenerative change at the adjacent segments were reviewed. The sequential changes at the adjacent segments were instability, disc space narrowing, spinal stenosis, and/or vertebral slip, and the symptoms of these changes were back pain in all patients and leg pain in many patients, particularly in later years. RESULTS: Initially all symptomatic patients were tried with conservative regimens of medication, physiotherapy, exercise, and education. A back brace was also applied for the patients who have considerable back pain, and the epidural injections for those who have leg pain. The symptoms of these patients, particularly the back pain were responded well to the conservative therapy during the earlier years, but surgery was needed eventually at the later years in 8 patients, particularly for the leg pain. For these patients, an adequate decompression and extension of the fusion using instrumentation resulted in good fusion with satisfactory clinical outcomes. CONCLUSION: The initial symptoms of the sequential degenerative changes at the adjacent segment after lumbar fusion were well responded to the conservative treatments, but a surgical treatment was needed eventually in many patients. The methods and results of the surgical treatment were similar to those of primary conditions.
Back Pain ; Braces ; Decompression ; Education ; Humans ; Injections, Epidural ; Leg ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Stenosis

A ganglioneuroma is a rare neoplasm in adults, which is most commonly locating in the posterior mediastinum, but can also be located in the retroperitoneum, pelvis, adrenal medulla and neck. They predominantly occur in females, with 60-70% of diseases originating before the age of 20 years. Herein, a case of a 51-year-old woman suffering from a pelvic mass, with a history and physical findings similar to those of an ovarian tumor, is reported.
Adrenal Medulla ; Adult ; Female ; Ganglioneuroma ; Humans ; Mediastinum ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Ovarian Neoplasms ; Pelvis ; Retroperitoneal Space

The aim of this report was to discuss the development and content of a guide on clinical performance and basic clinical skills for medical students. We published the first edition of this guide in 2010 and will publish the second edition in 2016. Initially, we took a survey on important clinical presentations and fundamental clinical and technical skills in 41 medical schools in Korea. Ultimately, we chose 80 core clinical presentations and 56 clinical skills. In the guide to basic clinical skills, we described the physical examination and technical skills according to the preprocedural preparation, procedure, and postprocedural process. In the guide on clinical performance, we reviewed patient encounters-from history taking and the physical examination to patient education. We included communication skills, principles of patient safety, and clinical reasoning schemes into the guides. In total, 43 academic faculty members helped develop the basic clinical skills guide, 75 participated in establishing the clinical performance guide, and 16 advisors from 14 medical specialty societies contributed to the guide. These guides can help medical students approach patients holistically and safely.
Clinical Competence/*standards ; Educational Measurement/*methods ; Humans ; *Practice Guidelines as Topic ; Republic of Korea ; *Students, Medical

To estimate the factors to the inclination of the criminal violence, the content of trace minerals and toxic metals in the scalp hair were measured during the period from May 1992 to october 1992. One hundred eleven violent and 89 nonviolent criminal inmates of Taegu correctional Institute were selected. The inmates of violent criminals were imprisoned by murder, robber, rape, injury and violent acts. Those of nonviolent criminals were swindle, larceny, and adultery and had no history of institutional violence. The contents of two toxic metals(cadmium, lead) and five trace minerals(Cu, Fe, Zn, Mg, Na) were determined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer(lL. 551). The contents of cadmium and lead in hair of violent criminals were significantly higher as 0.56+/-0.14ppm, 11.53+/-3.32ppm, respectively, than 0.42+/-0.20ppm, 9.63+/-4.31ppm of nonviolent group (P<0.01). But the level of copper was significantly lower than nonviolent group (P<0.05). The factors that had a significant correlation with the inclination of violence in multiple logistic regression analysis were cadmium (odds ratio=98.09), unmarried (odds ratio=0.39), many times of criminal history (odds ratio=l.57) and residence of rural area (odds ratio=0.44). The results suggest that the sub-toxic contents of cadmium and lead in the hair may be of potential effect on behavior, and the mineral analysis may be an important adjunctive diagnostic procedure. Further studies into this problem are necessary.
Absorption ; Cadmium ; Copper ; Criminals* ; Daegu ; Extramarital Relations ; Hair* ; Homicide ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Metals ; Minerals* ; Rape ; Scalp* ; Single Person ; Violence

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Intermediate coronary lesion that can be under- or over-estimated by visual estimation frequently results in stenting of functionally nonsignificant lesions or deferral of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of significant lesions inappropriately. We evaluated current status of PCI for intermediate lesions from a standardized database in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed the Korean percutaneous coronary intervention (K-PCI) registry data which collected a standardized PCI database of the participating hospitals throughout the country from January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014. Intermediate lesion was defined as a luminal narrowing between 50% and 70% by visual estimation and then compared whether the invasive physiologic or imaging study was performed or not. RESULTS: Physiology-guided PCI for intermediate lesions was performed in 16.8% for left anterior descending artery (LAD), 9.8% for left circumflex artery (LCX), 13.2% for right coronary artery (RCA). PCI was more frequently performed using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) than using fractional flow reserve (FFR) for coronary artery segments (27.7% vs. 13.9% for LAD, 32.9% vs. 8.1% for LCX, and 33.8% vs. 10.8% for RCA). In accordance with or without FFR, PCI for intermediate lesions was more frequently performed in the hospitals with available FFR device than without FFR, especially in left main artery (LM), proximal LAD lesion (40.9% vs. 5.9% for LM, 24.6% vs 7.6% for proximal LAD). CONCLUSIONS: These data provide the current PCI practice pattern with the use of FFR and IVUS in intermediate lesion. More common use of FFR for intermediate lesion should be encouraged.
Arteries ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Stenosis ; Coronary Vessels ; Fractional Flow Reserve, Myocardial ; Korea ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention ; Phenobarbital ; Stents ; Ultrasonography

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Intermediate coronary lesion that can be under- or over-estimated by visual estimation frequently results in stenting of functionally nonsignificant lesions or deferral of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of significant lesions inappropriately. We evaluated current status of PCI for intermediate lesions from a standardized database in Korea. METHODS: We analyzed the Korean percutaneous coronary intervention (K-PCI) registry data which collected a standardized PCI database of the participating hospitals throughout the country from January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014. Intermediate lesion was defined as a luminal narrowing between 50% and 70% by visual estimation and then compared whether the invasive physiologic or imaging study was performed or not. RESULTS: Physiology-guided PCI for intermediate lesions was performed in 16.8% for left anterior descending artery (LAD), 9.8% for left circumflex artery (LCX), 13.2% for right coronary artery (RCA). PCI was more frequently performed using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) than using fractional flow reserve (FFR) for coronary artery segments (27.7% vs. 13.9% for LAD, 32.9% vs. 8.1% for LCX, and 33.8% vs. 10.8% for RCA). In accordance with or without FFR, PCI for intermediate lesions was more frequently performed in the hospitals with available FFR device than without FFR, especially in left main artery (LM), proximal LAD lesion (40.9% vs. 5.9% for LM, 24.6% vs 7.6% for proximal LAD). CONCLUSIONS These data provide the current PCI practice pattern with the use of FFR and IVUS in intermediate lesion. More common use of FFR for intermediate lesion should be encouraged.

BACKGROUND: Postprimary pulmonary tuberculosis is located mainly in upper lobes. The tuberculous lesion involving the lower lobes usually arises from the upper lobe cavity through endobronchial spread. When tuberculosis is confined to the lower lung field, it often masquerades as pneumonia, lung cancer, bronchiectasis, or lung ahscess. Thus the correct diagnosis may be sometimes delayed for a long time. METHODS: We carried out, retrospectively, a clinical study on 50 patients confirmed with lower lung field tuberculosis who visited the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at Hanyang University Hospital from January 1992 to December 1994. The following results were obtained. RESULTS: Lower lung field tuberculosis without concomitant upper lobe disease occurred in fifty patients representing 6.9% of the total admission with active pulmonary tuberculosis over a period of 3 years. It occurred most frequently in the third decade but age distribution was relatively even. The mean age was 43 years old. Female was more frequently affected than male (male to female ratio 1:1.9). The most common symptom was cough(68%), followed by sputum(52%), fever(38%), and chest discomfort(30%). On chest X-ray of the S0patients, consolidation was the most common finding in 52%, followed by solitary nodule(22%), collapse(16%), cavitary lesion(l0%), in decreasing order. The disease confined to the right side in 25 cases, left side 20 cases, and both sides 5 cases. Endobronchial tuberculosis (1) Endobronchial involvement was proved by bronchoscopic examination in 20 of S0patients. (2) Mean age was 44years old and female was more affected than man (male to female ratio 1 : 3). Sputum AFB stain and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture were positive only in 50% of cases unlikely upper lobe tuberculosis, additional diagnostic methods were needed. In our study, bronchoscopic examination and percutaneous fine needle aspiration biopsy increased diagnostic yield by 18% and 32%, respectively. The most common associated condition was diabetes mellitus(18%) and others were anemia, anorexia nervosa, stomach cancer, and systemic steroid usage. CONCLUSION: When we find a lower lung field lesion, we should suspect tuberculosis if the patient has diabetes mellitus, anemia, systemic steroid usage, malignancy or other immune suppressed states. Because diagnostic yield of sputum AFB smear & Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture was low, additional diagnostic methods such as bronchoscopy and fine needle aspiration biopsy were needed.
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Anemia ; Anorexia Nervosa ; Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Bronchiectasis ; Bronchoscopy ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung* ; Male ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Pneumonia ; Pulmonary Medicine ; Retrospective Studies ; Sputum ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Thorax ; Tuberculosis* ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary