The Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals (鄕藥救急方, Hyang'yak Kugŭpbang) (c. 14th century) is known to be one of the oldest Korean medical textbooks that exists in its entirety. This study challenges conventional perceptions that have interpreted this text by using modern concepts, and it seeks to position the medical activities of the late Koryŏ Dynasty 高麗 (918–1392) to the early Chosŏn Dynasty 朝鮮 (1392–1910) in medical history with a focus on this text. According to existing studies, Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals is a strategic compromise of the Korean elite in response to the influx of Chinese medical texts and thus a medical text from a “periphery” of the Sinitic world. Other studies have evaluated this text as a medieval publication demonstrating stages of transition to systematic and rational medicine and, as such, a formulary book 方書 that includes primitive elements. By examining past medicine practices through “modern” concepts based on a dichotomous framework of analysis — i.e., modernity vs. tradition, center vs. periphery, science vs. culture — such conventional perceptions have relegated Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals to the position of a transitional medieval publication meaningful only for research on hyangchal 鄕札 (Chinese character-based writing system used to record Korean during the Silla Dynasty 新羅 [57 BC–935 AD] to the Koryŏ Dynasty). It is necessary to overcome this dichotomous framework in order to understand the characteristics of East Asian medicine. As such, this study first defines “medicine 醫”, an object of research on medical history, as a “special form of problem-solving activities” and seeks to highlight the problematics and independent medical activities of the relevant actors. Through this strategy (i.e., texts as solutions to problems), this study analyzes Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals to determine its characteristics and significance. Ultimately, this study argues that Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals was a problem-solving method for the scholar-gentry 士人層 from the late Koryŏ Dynasty to the early Chosŏn Dynasty, who had adopted a new cultural identity, to perform certain roles on the level of medical governance and constitute medical praxis that reflected views of both the body and materials and an orientation distinguished from those of the so-called medicine of Confucian physicians 儒醫, which was the mainstream medicine of the center. Intertwined at the cultural basis of the treatments and medical recipes included in Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals were aspects such as correlative thinking, ecological circulation of life force, transformation of materiality through contact, appropriation of analogies, and reasoning of sympathy. Because “local medicinals 鄕藥” is understood in Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals as referring to objects easily available from one's surroundings, it signifies locality referring to the ease of acquisition in local areas rather than to the identity of the state of Koryŏ or Chosŏn. As for characteristics revealed by this text's methods of implementing medicine, Korean medicine in terms of this text consisted largely of single-ingredient formulas using diverse medicinal ingredients easily obtainable from one's surroundings rather than making use of general drugs as represented by materia medica 本草 or of multiple-ingredient formulas. In addition, accessible tools, full awareness of the procedures and processes of the guidelines, procedural rituals, and acts of emergency treatment (first aid) were more important than the study of the medical classics, moral cultivation, and coherent explanations emphasized in categorical medical texts. Though Emergency Medicine Recipes in Local Medicinals can be seen as an origin of the tradition of emergency medicine in Korea, it differs from medical texts that followed which specializing in emergency medicine to the extent that it places toxicosis 中毒 before the six climatic factors 六氣 in its classification of diseases.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Ceremonial Behavior ; Classification ; Emergencies ; Emergency Medicine ; Emergency Treatment ; Far East ; Humans ; Korea ; Materia Medica ; Medicine, East Asian Traditional ; Methods ; Publications ; Thinking ; Writing

The global shortage of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, which are highly sought after as treatments for type 2 diabetes and obesity, is increasing. This deficit is attributed to the unexpected increase in demand for GLP-1 receptor agonists. This has caused significant harm to patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who are already using GLP-1 receptor agonists for blood sugar management, weight loss, or reduction of cardiovascular risk or those who are looking to start. To address this situation, doctors need to adjust medications considering the patient condition and clinical guidelines and must provide better education on lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise. Close cooperation between regulatory agencies and manufacturers is needed to mass-produce GLP-1 receptor agonists, as are societal efforts to prevent the trend of GLP-1 receptor agonist use as diet pills.

No abstract available.
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Gastroesophageal Reflux* ; Humans ; Prevalence* ; Risk Factors*

Subacute thyroiditis is a self-limiting inflammation of the thyroid, presenting with painful thyroid swelling, thyrotoxicosis and low radioactive iodine uptake. The characteristic US findings for this disease are focal ill-defined hypoechoic areas in one lobe or diffuse hypoechoic areas in both lobes. Thyroid carcinomas should be included in the differential diagnosis for a lesion with focal hypoechoic areas and have been rarely reported to coexist with subacute thyroiditis. Takayasu's arteritis is an autoimmune disease that affects the aorta and its branches as well as pulmonary arteries. Subacute thyroiditis associated with Takayasu's arteritis is extremely rare, with only three cases being reported. We report here on the first case with the simultaneous diagnosis of subacute thyroiditis, papillary thyroid carcinoma and Takayasu's arteritis.
Aorta ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Carcinoma ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Inflammation ; Iodine ; Pulmonary Artery ; Takayasu Arteritis ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms ; Thyroiditis, Subacute ; Thyrotoxicosis

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk assessment and the predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease developed by Jee. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from a structured questionnaire survey and medical examination of 509 male workers aged 30-59 years employed at a wallpaper and floor covering workplace in May 2008. We calculated KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk assessment and Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease. A high risk of cardiovascular disease was defined as the upper 10th percentile of Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Wilcoxon rank sum test, Kruskal Wallis test and a logistic regression model. RESULTS: Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease significantly increased as KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk increased. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the group with 3 or more cardiovascular disease risk factors according to KOSHA's model was more likely to experience cardiovascular disease within 10 years(OR=34.4, 95% C.I.=4.4-267.2). CONCLUSIONS: KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk assessment was fairly well associated with Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease and was believed to be a practical and convenient method of preventing cardiovascular disease at the workplace.
Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Floors and Floorcoverings ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Questionnaires ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk assessment and the predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease developed by Jee. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from a structured questionnaire survey and medical examination of 509 male workers aged 30-59 years employed at a wallpaper and floor covering workplace in May 2008. We calculated KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk assessment and Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease. A high risk of cardiovascular disease was defined as the upper 10th percentile of Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Wilcoxon rank sum test, Kruskal Wallis test and a logistic regression model. RESULTS: Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease significantly increased as KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk increased. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the group with 3 or more cardiovascular disease risk factors according to KOSHA's model was more likely to experience cardiovascular disease within 10 years(OR=34.4, 95% C.I.=4.4-267.2). CONCLUSIONS: KOSHA's cardiovascular disease risk assessment was fairly well associated with Jee's predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease and was believed to be a practical and convenient method of preventing cardiovascular disease at the workplace.
Aged ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Floors and Floorcoverings ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Questionnaires ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors

No abstract available.
Biomarkers* ; Cardiovascular Diseases* ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2*

Drug-induced diabetes is becoming more prevalent as a result of individuals taking diverse types of medication. A variety of drugs can impair glucose tolerance through several mechanisms, including increased insulin resistance, diminished insulin secretion, or both. Efforts should be made to identify and closely monitor patients receiving drugs that may alter glucose metabolism as diabetes is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. We review the latest data concerning commonly used drugs associated with development of diabetes and present postulated mechanisms by which the drugs might cause diabetes.
Diabetes Mellitus* ; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hyperglycemia ; Insulin ; Insulin Resistance ; Metabolic Side Effects of Drugs and Substances ; Metabolism ; Mortality

Purpose: This study investigated changes in attitudes toward marriage and childbearing assuming a BRCA1/2 mutation carrier status among healthy, unmarried individuals in Korea. Methods: A nationally representative sample of healthy, unmarried individuals aged 20–39 years was surveyed. A questionnaire on marriage and childbearing intentions was administered to the participants before and after providing them with information on BRCA1/2 mutation carriers’ breast and ovarian cancer risks and their autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. The participants were asked about their attitudes toward childbearing through preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). Results: Of the participants who initially wanted to marry, the assumption that they or their partners had BRCA1/2 mutation caused 25.3% to no longer want to get married and 36.2% to change their attitude from wanting to bear children to no longer wanting them. Females were more likely than males to change their attitudes toward marriage and childbearing. The participants who had negative attitudes toward genetic testing were more likely to change their attitudes regarding marriage and childbearing than those who were favorable toward both disclosure and testing. More than 50% of the participants who did not want children were willing to bear children through PGD when it was assumed that they were BRCA mutation carriers. Conclusion On the assumption of being carriers, general, young, and healthy females were more likely than males to negatively change their attitudes toward marriage and childbearing. Public education on the implications of living with mutation carriers and reproductive options may be required.