Epidemiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment of gastric carcinoma has been revised recently. The authors analysed 3,170 cases of gastric carcinoma which were diagosed with fiberoptic biopsy or resected specimens from 1968 to 1988 in Pusan area. The specimen were collected from Pusan National University Hospital, Pusan Paik Hospital and other general hospitals in Pusan city. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1) The time trend indicated that difference in the annual fluctuation of requency of gastric carcinoma during last 21 years was not statistically significant. But it was noticed that by comparing the following the two decades (1970~1979 and 1980~1988) the frequency of gastric carcinoma decreased in male, in middle age and in intestinal type. 2) Morbidity of gastric carcinoma increased in both sexes by aging, and this tendency was more marked in male and in intestinal type in female and in diffuse type. 3) In general the gastric carcinoma involved more frequently distal portion than proximal portion of the stomach was characterized predominantly by male, older patients and intestinal type. 4) Carcinoma with Borrmann type I and II were characterized predominantly by male, older patients and intestinal type. With Borrmann type III and IV, female, young patients and diffuse type were found more frequently. From the above results, the authors concluded that the pathological and epidemiological findings of gastric carcinoma among Koreans in Pusan area showed a transition moving from high risk to low risk area of gastric carcinoma.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Biopsy

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify the mediation effect of gender difference and self-esteem level between job stress and psychiatric symptom. METHODS: Male and female subjects participated in this study and filled out the Korean version of Job Stress Inventory(K-OSI), Beck's Depression Index(BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI), Symptom Check List-90-Revised(SCL-90-R) and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale(RSES). To explore the relationships between job stress and psychiatric symptom, a series of correlational analysis and ANOVAs were conducted to identify mediation effects self esteem level to job stress experience. RESULTS: In males, the perceived job stress level of role boundary scale was positively correlated with depressive, anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms. And role insufficiency was positively correlated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, too. In addition, the interaction effect of self-esteem was significant and the interaction effect of self-esteem was significant. It means high level of self-esteem had buffering effect of job stress on psychiatric symptoms. In females, the perceived job stress level of physical environment scale was positively correlated with depressive symptoms and role overload was positively correlated with psychosomatic symptoms. There was no significant interaction effect of self-esteem identified. CONCLUSIONS: The perceived job stresses related to role boundary and role insufficiency were important factors which result in psychiatric symptoms in males, while physical environment and role overload were important factors in females. In addition, high self esteem had buffering effects of job stresses on psychiatric symptoms, only in males not in females.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Negotiating* ; Self Concept

No abstract available.
Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Fibrinogen* ; Plasma*

No abstract available.
Coronary Artery Disease* ; Coronary Vessels* ; Fibrinogen* ; Plasma*

OBJECTIVE: The purposes of present study were to compare Autonomy with Sociotropy about the job stress experience and to explore the relationship between job stress and mental health. METHODS: Three-hundred-forty-three workers participated and filled out the Personel Style Inventory(PSI), the Korean version of Occupational Stress Inventory(K-OSI), the stress appraisal scale, the Beck Depression Inventory(BDI), the Spielberger State-Trait Inventory(STAI) state anxiety scale, and the SCL-90-R Somatization scale. RESULTS: Autonomy reported higher level job stress than Sociotropy. Except for the Responsibility scale, Autonomy got higher scores on the Role Overload, the Role Insufficiency, the Role Ambiguity, the Role Boundary, the Physical Environment scale. Autonomy appraised their stressor more threatening than Sociotropy. Also, according to the Personality style, a series of multiple regression analysis showed somewhat different relationship among job stress, cognitive appraisal, psychiatric symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: From our results it was inferred that the contents of major job stressor could be differ according to the personality style. The job structure that are threat to the individual's autonomy and independence, could be a severe stressor to Autonomy. The interpersonal conflicts in working place that are threat to the interpersonal relatedness, could be a severe stressor to Sociotropy. So, we proposed that the individual personality style should be considered in the stress manage program.
Anxiety ; Depression ; Mental Health

OBJECTIVES: Differential diagnosis based on descriptive psychopathology between bipolar and unipolar depression in the clinical setting is a still huge challenge. Projective psychological tests might provide additional clues. This study aimed to find distinct Rorschach test characteristics of bipolar depression in comparison with unipolar depression. METHODS: Medical records and raw data of the Rorschach Inkblot test applied using standardized procedure for the Exner Comprehensive System were retrospectively reviewed for patients with bipolar disorder or unipolar depression. Individual variables of the Rorchach test were compared among three groups, i.e., (hypo) mania (n=59), bipolar depression (n=56) and unipolar depression (n=25). RESULTS: Bipolar depression group, in accordance with (hypo) manic group, showed more color reponses (WSumC), more extroverted and intuitive decision-making (EBright), and higher emotional expression (CF+C) and instability (ebright), compared to unipolar deperssion group. On the contrary, the (hypo) mania group displayed more cognitive errors (Sum6, WSum6) compared to both depression groups. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that Rorchach test might provide valuable markers for differential diagnosis between bipolar and unipolar depression, and that some of those markers could be regarded as trait markers of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar Disorder ; Depression ; Depressive Disorder ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Psychological Tests ; Psychopathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Rorschach Test

The purpose of the present study was to identify the factor structure of neurocognitive tests used on schizophrenia patients by using the confirmative factor analysis, and to assess the factor score differences of schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Comprehensive neurocognitive tests were administered to stabilized schizophrenia patients (N=114) and healthy controls (N=120). In the results of factor analyses on patients, the multifactorial-6-factor model, which included the speed of processing, working memory, verbal learning and memory, visual learning and memory, attention/vigilance, and reasoning/problem solving as suggested by the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS), showed the better goodness of fit than any of the other models tested. And assessing the group differences of factor scores, we found the patients performed worse than the controls in all factors, but the result showed meaningful variations of impairments across the cognitive factors. Our study identifies the six major domains with multifactorial structure of cognitive abilities in schizophrenia patients and confirms the distinctive impairment patterns of each cognitive domain. These results may have utility in better understanding the pathology of schizophrenia as well as in genetic studies.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Attention ; Cognition Disorders/etiology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Memory ; Middle Aged ; Models, Psychological ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Problem Solving ; Schizophrenia/*diagnosis/etiology ; Severity of Illness Index ; Verbal Behavior ; Verbal Learning

It has been reported that a change in the cellular redox state may be involved in the regulation of vascular tone, but the underlying mechanism is not fully understood. The present study was designed to investigate the cellular effect of sulfhydryl modifying agents in the coronary artery of rabbit using the tension measurement and whole cell clamping method. The application of diamide, a sulfhydryl oxidizing agent, relaxed the endothelium denuded coronary arteries in a dose dependent manner. The fact that this diamide-induced relaxation was significantly attenuated by a pretreatment of 4-AP, and the coronary arteries precontracted with 100 mM K+ instead of histamine, suggests the involvement of 4-AP sensitive K+ channels in the diamide-induced relaxation of coronary arteries. Whole cell patch clamp studies revealed that the 4-AP sensitive IdK was significantly enhanced by the membrane permeant oxidizing agents, diamide and DTDP, and were reversed by subsequent exposure to the reducing agent, DTT. Neither the membrane impermeant oxidizing or reducing agents, GSSG or GSH, had any effect on the activity of IdK, indicating that intracellular sulfhydryl modification is critical for modulating IdK activity. The Diamide failed to significantly alter the voltage dependence of the activation and inactivation parameters, and did not change the inactivation process, suggesting that diamide increases the number of functional channels without altering their gating properties. Since IdK has been believed to play an important role in regulating membrane potential and arterial tone, our results about the effect of sulfhydryl modifying agents on coronary arterial tone and IdK activity should help understand the pathophysiology of the diseases, where oxidative damage has been implicated.
Animal ; Arteries/physiology ; Arteries/drug effects ; Arteries/cytology ; Coronary Vessels/physiology ; Coronary Vessels/drug effects* ; Coronary Vessels/cytology ; Female ; Male ; Oxidants/pharmacology* ; Potassium Channels/physiology ; Rabbits ; Reducing Agents/pharmacology* ; Sulfhydryl Compounds/metabolism*

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate demographic, clinical, behavioral and metabolic-endocrine factors related to weight gain in patients with schizophrenia treated with serotonin-dopamine antagonists(SDA). METHODS: Forty-two in-patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia were recruited from Samsung Seoul Hospital and St. Andrew Neuropsychiatric Hospital. The subjects were first-episode patients or patients who did not take any antipsychotics for the previous two months. All the patients were administered with one of the SDAs for 8 weeks. Body weights and body mass index (BMI) were measured weekly during the treatment period. The mean levels of daytime activities were evaluated at baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks after the treatment. To assess the clinical response to the medication, the Krawiecka Rating Scale (KRS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) were applied before and after the treatment. Fasting blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL), and serum level of prolactin were measured before and after the treatment. RESULTS: The body weight and BMI were significantly increased through the treatment periods. There were significant increases in the blood levels of cholesterol, TG and prolactin after 8 weeks. KRS total score showed significant decrease and the mean level of daytime activities showed significant increase by the treatment. Significant negative correlations were observed between the weight gain indices and the baseline BMI. The level of clinical improvement was significantly correlated with the degree of weight gain. Gender, age, smoking, daily dosages of antipsychotics, level of daytime activity and changes in appetite did not show any association with the weight gain indices. Neither the baseline biochemical variables nor their changes after the treatment were significantly correlated with the indices of weight gain. CONCLUSION: This result implies that low baseline BMI could be a risk factor of weight gain in short-term treatment of schizophrenia with SDAs. And it is also suggested that the effects of SDAs on weight gain and the clinical improvement might be developed through the same pharmacodynamic pathway.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Appetite ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Fasting ; Glucose ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Prolactin ; Risk Factors ; Schizophrenia* ; Seoul ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Triglycerides ; Weight Gain*

OBJECTIVES: Primary, enduring negative symptoms have been used to define the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia, and the diagnostic validity of the deficit syndrome has been demonstrated by clinical, biological and neuropsychological studies. This study aims at evaluating the long-term stability of the diagnostic category of deficit syndrome using direct patient assessments. METHODS: The subjects were thirty-two patients with schizophrenia who were categorized into deficit or non-deficit subgroup using the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS) in their remission or partial remission state maintained by long-term treatments with antipsychotics (mostly atypical drugs). These patients were re-assessed based on the same deficit syndrome criteria an average of 5.6 years after having been initially categorized. Lifetime presence of clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Krawiecka Scale. RESULTS: The majority (87.5%) of the patients who were classified as non-deficit at the initial assessment continued to remain non-deficit during the follow-through period. However, only 37.5% of the patients classified as deficit at the initial assessment remain classified as showing deficit syndrome. Compared to the non-deficit group, patients of the deficit group at the final assessment showed significantly higher scores of positive symptoms at their previous psychotic states. Among the individual items of SDS, 'poverty of speech' was the most predictable of the long-lasting deficit syndrome. CONCLUSION: This study showed insufficient long-term stability of the deficit syndrome categorized by SDS criteria. This could be explained by low validity of SDS criteria for the identification of the trait-dependent deficit syndrome. It might also suggest that deficit symptoms could be improved by optimal long-term treatment with atypical antipsychotics.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Appointments and Schedules ; Diagnosis* ; Follow-Up Studies* ; Humans ; Schizophrenia*