The study is carried out to investigate the effect of drinking and smoking for the activities of aspartate aminotransferse(AST, or GOT) and alanine amintransferse(ALT or GPT), from December 25, 1986 to April 30, 1987. The male physical examinees for employment, 900 who had visited to the Taegu Medical Center were subjected. And the positive cases of HBs-Ag, Anti-HBs and skin test for Clonorchis sinensis were excluded. The general characters of drinking and smoking pattern were introduced by interview with questionnaire provided for. In drinking cases, the longer duration was significantly effected the higher rate of abnormality in AST and ALT level. But the amount and the frequency were not. It was not appeared effects by mackgulri which is a Korean traditional wine and small amount of beers. In smoking cases, also same pattern. The age was related in all cases. By the way, when the effect is related the positive results with other factors; HBs-Ag, Anti-HBs, skin test for clonorchiasis and harmful occupational history, it is higher abnormal rate of AST and ALT in the duplicated cases with two factors or more. Particularly in HBs-Ag positive cases, those who had smoking was the highest in rate of abnormality, and drinking was the follows. In correlation matrix among seven factors; HBs-Ag, age, drinking amount, drinking period, drinking frequency, smoking amount and smoking period, correlation coefficient was significant between the abnormal rate and to with age, drinking period, smoking period, and smoking amount.
Alanine ; Aspartic Acid ; Beer ; Clonorchiasis ; Clonorchis sinensis ; Daegu ; Drinking* ; Employment ; Humans ; Male ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Skin Tests ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Wine

A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the effect of long term noise exposure on blood pressure among steel mill workers. The workers participated in periodic medical examinations performed from August 27 to September 6 in 1990. Examined were 1,034 workers with high-level noise exposure(average 91.8+/-5.2 dB{AA)), and 390 workers with low-level noise exposure(average 75.2+/-4.6 dB(A)). No significant difference was found in systolic or diastolic blood pressure between the two exposure groups. Prevalence of hypertension (> or = 160 mmHg systolic or > or = 100 mmHg diastolic) was higher in a younger age group (< or = 40 years old) of high-level noise exposure than of low-level noise exposure. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Furthermore, in younger ages, prevalence of. hypertension appeared to be higher in the hearing loss group (> or = 25dB at 1000 Hz or > or = 40 dB at 4000 Hz in at least one ear) than in the normal hearing group. From multiple regression analysis, hearing loss, body mass index, age, alcohol and family history of hypertension were proven to be predictors of diastolic blood pressure (p<0.02). When regression was performed for each age group, hearing loss was a strong predictor of diastolic pressure in the younger age group (p<0.01).
Blood Pressure* ; Body Mass Index ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Hearing Loss* ; Hearing* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Noise* ; Prevalence ; Steel*

In order to determine the contents of lead, cadmium and zinc, the tissues of the crussian carp, Carassius carassius, collected from the middle streams of the Nakdong river were examined. During the dry season from 8 to 15, March, 1987, six loci were selected to sample the fish and river water; five of them were the midstreams of the Nakdong river i.e., the vicinities of the Andong dam, the Nakdong bridge, the Waegwan bridge, Gangjung and Gaepori, the other one was the Kumho river around the Paldal bridge(see Fig.1). The microanalyses of lead and cadmium contents were undertaken by the atomic absorption spectrophotometer(Model IL-551) connected with CTF-IL 655, while that of zinc by the flame method with IL-551 only. The contents of lead and cadmium in water sampled from Gaepori distant from about 30km downward from the junction with the Kumho river were about 1.5 times higher than those from Gangjung distant about 0.5km upward from the junction, and the content of zinc from Gaepori was slightly higher than that from Gangjung. However, the contents of lead and cadmium in water sampled from Gaepori were three fifth of those from the vicinity of Paldal bridge far about 2km upperward from the junction. In the other words, the contents of lead and cadmium in the samples from the vicinity of the Paldal bridge were about 2.5 to 3 times higher than those from the Gangjung and 5 times higher than those from the Andong dam. The contents of the heavy metals in the tissues of Carassius carassius were relatively consistent to those of the aquatic environments were the fish were collected, with higher contents in the tissues of the crussian carp collected from the vicinity of Gaepori and the Paldal bridge which were so much polluted than in those from other loci in upper stream from the junction. And the contents of lead and cadmium in tissues were positively correlated with the age of the fish, however, that zinc was not. The contents of lead in bone of crussian carp from the vicinity of the Paldal bridge in the group of 0-1 year old fish were similar to those of 4-5 years old fish from Gaepori, and higher than those of 3-4 years old fish collected from the upper stream of the junction. It is likely that fishing from Gaepori and the paldal bridge is not recommended, and all the industrial producers have to pay intensive attention to the water pollution due to the sewage disposal.
Absorption ; Cadmium* ; Carps* ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Korea* ; Metals, Heavy ; Rivers* ; Seasons ; Sewage ; Water ; Water Pollution ; Zinc*

This study was carried out to investigate for resistance of V. parahaemolyticus that isolated from patients of food poisoning and fish and shellfish, captured in east coast of Kyungpook province of Korea from 1985 to 1986. VP ATCC 17802 and NAG V. ATCC 6538 were used as control. In fish, shellfish and seaweed, the more temperature increased, the shorter survival time was. In case of sea-water, the more temperature rose up, the longer survival time was, particularly in 37 degrees C and 25 degrees C, the strains had survived after 6 months. And in tapwater, it was sterilized in 150 mins. and survived for 11.5 days on maximum in ground water. In kimchi, at room temperature, germicidal time was shorter more than 6 times compared with that which had been kept in refrigerator. It survived for 57.1 days in milk, 49.2 mins. in yougurt. Strains had been surviving in frozen condition at -70 degrees C even after 6 months, present study time. In resistance test in water bath at several degrees of temperature, all the strains were sterilized in 20 mins. with 60 degrees C. In resistance test to driness, number of surviving strains dropped rapidly in 10-11% water contents. In UV 2538A, strains were sterilized in 20 mins. In resistance test to alcohol, strains had survived for 0.1-4 mins. in fermentative wine of below than 25% and distilled wine of over than 25% in alcohol concentration. The bactericidal concentration of disinfectant was 1% in phenol and 3% in cresol. In 0.1M acetic acid and 0.1M lactic acid, number of surviving colonies decreased rapidly but not in citric acid. The more NaCl concentration rose up, the lower decreasing rate of number of surviving colonies was. The strains had showed sensitive response to vancomycin, chloramphenicol, gentamicin, and resisted to carbenicillin, ampicillin and kanamycin. When one day culture strain was cultured till 25th day, resistant strains to tetracycline and cephalothin were changed to sensitive.
Acetic Acid ; Ampicillin ; Baths ; Carbenicillin ; Cephalothin ; Chloramphenicol ; Citric Acid ; Foodborne Diseases ; Gentamicins ; Groundwater ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Kanamycin ; Korea ; Lactic Acid ; Milk ; Phenol ; Seaweed ; Shellfish ; Tetracycline ; Vancomycin ; Vibrio parahaemolyticus* ; Vibrio* ; Water ; Wine

This study was carried out to clarify the effect of dietary calcium, casein, and suet on the accumulation of cadmium in mice. It was performed for 30 days, from April 11 to May 10 1988. 90 mice were divided into 4 experimental groups and control group with 6 mice each dietary group, and measured survival rate, body weight, and weight ratio of organ to body. The contents of cadmium in liver, kidney, spleen, muscle and skin with hair, and faces were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer after sacrifice by anesthesia. After 30 days, the survival rate of control group was 100%, but 66.7% in group IV(basal+Cd+Ca) with single dose of 100 microgram cadmium and with free-intake of water containing 50ppm cadmium, and group V(basal diet+Cd+suet) with free-intake of water containing 50ppm cadmium. The rate of weight gain in the case of single dose of 100 microgram cadmium was highest in group IV as 42.3% and lowest in group V as 26.0%, whereas in the cases of free intake group IV was highest as 24.0% and group II(basal diet+Cd) was lowest as 11.6%. The body weight, in the case of single dose of 100 microgram cadmium showed no increase until 5th day after acute poisoning. But in the case of free intake group, it showed very increase through all the breeding period. The weight ratio of organ to body were lowest in the liver of group II in both occasions. The most of cadmium administered were excreted through feces within 2 days after single dose of 100 microgram cadmium. The contents of cadmium in each group were significantly higher than those of control group. In the liver, kidney, spleen and muscle, group II showed the highest level in both occasions of 100 microgram single dose and free intake of water containing 50ppm cadmium. In the skin with hair, group II of the occasion with single dose of 100 microgram and group V with free intake showed the highest level. And the contents of cadmium in tissue were markedly higher in the occasion of free intake of water containing 50ppm cadmium. From the above results I would conclude that the addition of casein and calcium are effective in the inhibition of intension absorption of cadmium esp. by calcium.
Absorption ; Anesthesia ; Animals ; Body Weight ; Breeding ; Cadmium* ; Calcium ; Calcium, Dietary* ; Caseins* ; Feces ; Hair ; Kidney ; Liver ; Mice* ; Poisoning ; Skin ; Spleen ; Survival Rate ; Water ; Weight Gain

To reveal the association between blood selenium level and the gastric diseases, 180 persons received the gastrofiberscopic examination at the outpatients department of the two university hospitals from July to September 1987, after the exclusion of the persons having the esophageal varix, were randomly selected. Their general characteristics such as age, sex and educational level and so on, were investigated. Five microliter venous blood was collected from each subjects and stored at 0 degrees C in heparinized vaccum tube. The blood selenium level was measured by the flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry. In the procedure of data analysis, five subjects having benign tumor and anomaly of the stomach, were also excluded. The mean blood selenium levels of the 155.5 microgram/l among gastritis cases, the 154.8 microgram/l gastric ulcer and the 133.0 microgram/l gastric malignancy were significantly lower(p<0.05) than that of the 173.3 microgram/l among normal controls. In men the mean blood selenium levels among gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric malignancy cases were significantly lower(p<0.05) than that among normal controls. In females, the mean blood selenium levels among gastritis and gastric maligancy cases were significantly lower(P<0.05) than that among normal controls(169.7 microgram/l), buy that among gastric ulcer cases(177.7 microgram/l) was not significantly higher. In the logistic analysis, coefficient of the blood selenium level was -0.0436(p<0.05 ; odds ratio 0.957) for gastritis, -0.0197(p=0.17 ; 0.981) for gastric ulcer, -0.4876(p<0.05 ; 0.614) for gastric malignancy and -0.0411(p<0.05 ; 0.960) for gastric diseases including the gastritis, the gastric ulcer and the gastric malignancy. These data support the hypothesis that the gastric diseases are to be associated with the low selenium level but, for the gastric ulcer, the further research is recommended.
Esophageal and Gastric Varices ; Female ; Gastritis ; Heparin ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Male ; Odds Ratio ; Outpatients ; Selenium* ; Spectrophotometry, Atomic ; Statistics as Topic ; Stomach ; Stomach Diseases* ; Stomach Ulcer

No abstract available.

An outbreak of dermatosis occurred at a machinery manufacture factory in kyongju on Aug 1995. Authors conducted a questionnaire survey among 92 workers in the factory and a dermatologist examined their skin lesions. Authors also collected moths and identified them. The results are as follows; 1. Forty-two cases of dermatosis were identified with attack rate of 45.7%. Attack rate was not different by company, age, sex, educational level and duration of employment. Attack rate was 47.8% among productive workers, 25.0% among clerical workers and 100.0% among patrolmen. 2. Two cases among 42 dermatosis cases and three subjects among 50 non-cases had a history of same dermatosis last year. Four of dermatosis cases had a history of dermatosis among their family members. 3. skin lesions of the cases were scattered or grouped rice-sized erythematous papules or vesicles. Duration of dermatosis from the onset to the time of survey was from one day to more than 30 days. The most frequent site of skin lesion was the arms(81.0%), and it was also observed at the neck(47.6%), abdomen(45.2%), chest(42.9%), legs(38.1%) and back(35.7%). skin lesion was aggravated with sweating(31.0%), after shower(16.7%) and with scratching(l1.9%). 4. Moths were collected and identified as Euproetis subflava(Bremer). Many poisons stings were observed on their wngs which is harmful to human. 5. Contact with moths' wing droppings to two authors on their forearms for provocation resulted in severe immediate pain followed by prolonged pruritus. Erythematous macules quickly appeared and suoceeded by firm wheal-like red papules. Authors thought that the outbreak of dermatosis was brought about by Euproetix subflava(Bremer). Further studies on the factors contributing to the prosperity of the moths in this area are needed.
Bites and Stings ; Employment ; Epidemiologic Studies* ; Forearm ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Humans ; Korea ; Moths* ; Poisons ; Pruritus ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Skin ; Skin Diseases* ; Wings, Animal

This study was performed to investigate the possibility of temporary threshold shift (TTS) of vibration sense could induced by exposure to high-frequency vibration or by work position taking by dentists in drilling or polishing. The vibratory perception thresholds (VPT) of 28 healthy men were measured on the index fingertip pulp of dominant hand at 250Hz. The vibrating tool used in test was a low-speed handpiece of 34,000 rpm. For the TTS test, the dominant hand was exposed to high-frequency vibration and to work position for five minutes, respectively. The VPTs before and after vibratory exposure were 23.5+/-3.5 dB, 30.8+/-4.2 dB, respectively and VPT after work position was 23.7+/-4.6 dB. The difference between before and after vibartory exposure was statistically significant (P<0.001). The correlation of height, weight and BMl with baseline VPTs was not statistically significant. Also, there was no difference of VPTs by smoking. These results suggest that high-frequency vibration from dental handpieces might cause the impairment of vibration sensation.
Dentists ; Hand ; Humans ; Male ; Sensation* ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Vibration*

Two hundred and fifty teachers of special school (for the disabled) and 414 elementary school teachers were selected for the targets in order to compare their degrees of fatigue symptoms and to find what kind of relationship is between subjective symptoms of fatigue and pH is the saliva. It was 30 minutes before their closing hours on April 21th, 1989 that their physical, mental and neuro-sensory symptoms and salivary pH were examined. The test results are summarized as follows: It is observed that an interrelation between subjective fatigue and pH in their saliva shows a significant relationship between physical and neuro-sensory symptoms in a sense of statistics. The rate of subjective fatigue complained by the special teachers is higher than that by the elementary teachers. In the case of salivary pH, the special teachers' is as a whole lower than the elementary teachers'. The complain rates in each item, checked of special teachers are generally higher than those of the elementary teachers. It is in the mental symptom related item that there are many sub-items which show significant difference. According to the average of salivary pH based on the degrees of complained symptoms shown in the pH related items, the salivary pH of the group with complained symptoms is lower than that of the group without complained symptoms. In the rate of complaints, by sex, both sexes of the special teachers show high ones but salivary pH is low. The complain rate of mental symptoms shown by female group from the special teacher is significantly higher(p<0.05). By age, the group in their thirties from the special teachers show the higher complain rate of mental symptoms (29.3%) and the lower salivary pH (p<0.05) than that (15.1%) of the elementary teachers belonging to the same age category. However, the special teachers in their forties show the lower complain rate of physical symptoms that of the elementary teachers (p<0.05). From the viewpoint of their working years, the special teachers below 14 years and elementary teachers above 15 years in their career show high complain rates. Among those who belong to the category of 10-14 working years, the special teachers show the higher complain rate of mental symptoms than that of their counterparts. In the case of the salivary pH, the special teachers of all working-year categories show the higher pH than that of the elementary teachers. But there is not significantly difference. From the viewpoint of sleeping hours in the previous night of the questionnaire surveyed, among those who slept for over 7 hours, the special teachers show the higher complain rate of mental symptoms with significant difference, but the lower salivary pH than that of their counterparts. From the viewpoint of their marital status, existence of disease history, the special teachers show the higher complain rate of subjective fatigue, but the lower salivary pH than that of the elementary teachers respectively. According to the above results, the special teachers generally show the higher complain rate of subjective fatigue, the lower salivary pH, and the higher complain rate of mental symptoms. To prevent the possible accumulation of mental fatigue of the special teachers, ways and means to make use of leisure time, recreational facilities are necessarily provided. Since the degree of fatigue and salivary pH have a correlation to some extent, it is necessary that further continuous studies on the correlation between the degrees of fatigue and salivary pH should be pursued.
Fatigue* ; Female ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration* ; Leisure Activities ; Marital Status ; Mental Fatigue ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Saliva