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

Injury to brain transforms resting astrocytes to their reactive form, the hallmark of which is an increase in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the major intermediate filament protein of their cell type. The overall glial response after brain injury is referred to as reactive gliosis. Glial-neuronal interaction is important for neuronal migration, neurite outgrowth and axonal guidance during ontogenic development. Although much attention has been given to glial regulation of neuronal development and regeneration, evidences also suggest a neuronal influence on glial cell differentiation, maturation and function. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of glial-hippocampal neuronal co-culture on GFAP expression in the co-cultured astrocytes. The following antibodies were used for double immunostaining chemistry; mouse monoclonal antibodies for confirm neuronal cells, rabbit anti GFAP antibodies for confirm astrocytes. Primary cultured astrocytes showed the typical flat polygonal morphology in culture and expressed strong GFAP and vimentin. Co-cultured hippocampal neurons on astrocytes had phase bright cell body and well branched neurites. About half of co-cultured astrocytes expressed negative or weak GFAP and vimentin. After 2 hour glutamate (0.5 mM) exposure of glial-neuronal co-culture, neuronal cells lost their neurites and most of astrocytes expressed strong GFAP and vimentin. In Western blot analysis, total GFAP and vimentin contents in co-cultured astrocytes were lower than those of primary cultured astrocytes. After glutamate exposure of glial-neuronal co-culture, GFAP and vimentin contents in astrocytes were increased to the level of primary cultured astrocytes. These results suggest that neuronal cell decrease GFAP expression in co-cultured astrocytes and hippocampal neuronal-glial co-culture can be used as a reactive gliosis model in vitro for studying GFAP expression of astrocytes.
Animals ; Antibodies ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Astrocytes* ; Axons ; Blotting, Western ; Brain ; Brain Injuries ; Chemistry ; Coculture Techniques* ; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein ; Gliosis ; Glutamic Acid ; Intermediate Filaments ; Mice ; Neurites ; Neuroglia ; Neurons ; Regeneration ; Vimentin

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to design and develop an integrated pharmaceutical supply chain management(SCM) system for optimizing inventory control and reducing material handling costs based on B2B collaboration and information sharing. METHODS: We have analyzed business processes of material handling in hospitals and reviewed system requirements for efficient supply chain management. VMI(Vendor-Managed Inventory), which is one of important applications of SCM, has been adopted. Online procurement system and Web-based information sharing system are developed for the integration of the SCM. RESULTS: The SCM system composed of VMI, CAO(Computer Aided Ordering), and Web-based information sharing system enables hospitals to optimize the procurement processes and inventory control of pharmaceutical products. By sharing information with hospitals, the wholesaler can get information more timely and use exact data about inventory status and drug usage volumes of hospitals, so that it can forecast future demand more accurately, which facilitates needed products to be supplied timely and cost-effectively. CONCLUSION: By the B2B collaborations and information sharing among SCM participants, the SCM system have been implemented successfully in the medical center. It improves material handling of hospitals, reducing inventory management costs and ultimately improving quality of patient care.
Commerce ; Cooperative Behavior* ; Information Dissemination* ; Patient Care ; Pharmaceutical Preparations

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*

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 present study explored the reliability and the validity of our newly constructed job stress scale, the Korean version of the Occupational Stress Inventory (K-OSI) METHODS: Through preliminary item-analysis, we constructed 140 items of the Korean version of Occupational Stress Inventory (K-OSI) K-OSI consists of three subscales measuring three sections, 'ORQ'(Occupational Role Questionnaire) 'PSQ'(Personal Strain Questionnaire) and 'PRQ'(Personal Resource Questionnaire) respectively. The normative group consisted of 805 adult workers who represented six major job classes in Korea. RESULTS: The internal consistency coefficients of 'ORQ', 'PSQ', and 'PRQ' ranged from .89 to .92, and of those 14 subscales ranged from .70 to .88. The test-retest reliability coefficients of 8 week duration ranged from .62 to . 79, and bilingual's consistency coefficient ranged from .82 to . 96. The validity of the K-OSI was investigated by factor-analysis, yielding 3 factors of overall job stress and its responses, personal stress coping, psychological, physical, and behavioral responses of job stress. CONCLUSION: The present results indicate that the K-OSI is a reliable and valid measure of job stress.
Adult ; Humans ; Korea ; Reproducibility of Results*

OBJECTIVES : Whether bipolar II disorder (BP-II) is simply a milder form of bipolar I disorder (BP-I) or a valid diagnostic category that could be separated from BP-I, is an issue still under consideration. Investigations exploring differential clinical and biological features of the two conditions are needed to resolve the controversies. This study aimed to obtain a comprehensive view of differences in clinical course and symptoms characteristics between BP-I and BP-II. METHODS : 44 BP-I and 26 BP-II patients were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS), Korean version. Demographic data, age at onset, number of (hypo) manic/ depressive episodes, the duration of illness, polarity at onset, seasonality, rapid cycling, atypical depression and symptom profiles of each episode were evaluated. RESULTS : BP-II patients experienced depressive episodes more frequently than BP-I patients after illness onset (U=240.5, p=0.008). More BP-II patients showed seasonality (34.9% vs. 61.5%) and a rapid cycling course (4.5% vs. 18.2%). When comparing symptom profiles of manic/hypomanic episodes, irritable mood, decreased sleep need, inattention, reckless behavior, arrogant/provocative attitude and frequent outbursts of anger were less encountered in BP-II patients. In depressive episodes, leaden paralysis and psychomotor agitation were more frequently observed in BP-II patients. There was no significant difference between the two groups in psychotic symptoms of depressive episode. CONCLUSION : BP-I and BP-II disorders showed differences in clinical courses and symptom profiles. BP-II disorder seems to be less severe than BP-I disorder with regard to the intensity of manic symptoms, but more severe with respect to frequencies of depressive episodes. These results provide additional evidence supporting the distinction of BP-I and BP-II as separate diagnos-tic categories that might have different genetic profiles and/or biological mechanisms.
Anger ; Depression ; Humans ; Irritable Mood ; Paralysis ; Psychomotor Agitation ; Seasons

OBJECTIVES : Whether bipolar II disorder (BP-II) is simply a milder form of bipolar I disorder (BP-I) or a valid diagnostic category that could be separated from BP-I, is an issue still under consideration. Investigations exploring differential clinical and biological features of the two conditions are needed to resolve the controversies. This study aimed to obtain a comprehensive view of differences in clinical course and symptoms characteristics between BP-I and BP-II. METHODS : 44 BP-I and 26 BP-II patients were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS), Korean version. Demographic data, age at onset, number of (hypo) manic/ depressive episodes, the duration of illness, polarity at onset, seasonality, rapid cycling, atypical depression and symptom profiles of each episode were evaluated. RESULTS : BP-II patients experienced depressive episodes more frequently than BP-I patients after illness onset (U=240.5, p=0.008). More BP-II patients showed seasonality (34.9% vs. 61.5%) and a rapid cycling course (4.5% vs. 18.2%). When comparing symptom profiles of manic/hypomanic episodes, irritable mood, decreased sleep need, inattention, reckless behavior, arrogant/provocative attitude and frequent outbursts of anger were less encountered in BP-II patients. In depressive episodes, leaden paralysis and psychomotor agitation were more frequently observed in BP-II patients. There was no significant difference between the two groups in psychotic symptoms of depressive episode. CONCLUSION : BP-I and BP-II disorders showed differences in clinical courses and symptom profiles. BP-II disorder seems to be less severe than BP-I disorder with regard to the intensity of manic symptoms, but more severe with respect to frequencies of depressive episodes. These results provide additional evidence supporting the distinction of BP-I and BP-II as separate diagnos-tic categories that might have different genetic profiles and/or biological mechanisms.
Anger ; Depression ; Humans ; Irritable Mood ; Paralysis ; Psychomotor Agitation ; Seasons

OBJECTIVES: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene has been identified as a positional and functional candidate gene of schizophrenia. Although specific mechanism of increasing schizophrenia susceptibility by this gene has not been well described yet, recent studies suggest that the valine allele of COMT Val158Met polymorphism may contribute to cognitive decline in schizophrenia. The present study investigated the association between this polymorphism of COMT gene and cognitive markers related to schizophrenia in both schizophrenia patients and normal controls. METHODS: The subjects were 78 patients with schizophrenia diagnosed by DSM-IV and 97 normal controls. Comprehensive neurocognitive tests for which performance deficits have been reported in schizophrenia were administered. Genotyping for COMT Val158Met polymorphism was done with SNapShot method. Association analyses between genotype and cognitive functions were performed using ANCOVA and MANCOVA. RESULTS: In the comparison of allele frequencies between patient and control groups, no significant association between the polymorphism and schizophrenia was observed. Significant differences of cognitive performance among genotype groups were not identified in control group. This trend was also observed in the patient group. In the combined analysis of both patient and control groups, there was no significant genotype or genotype-by group effect on any cognitive function measure. CONCLUSION: These findings do not support a major role of COMT gene in the regulation of the cognitive processes of schizophrenia.
Alleles ; Catechol O-Methyltransferase ; Cognition ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Gene Frequency ; Genotype ; Humans ; Schizophrenia ; Valine